[R-sig-Debian] Auto-upgrade to R-2.8.0-1 in Etch

[(Ted Harding)]

Hi Folks,
My Debian 4.0 Etch (installed Sep 2007, R version 2.7.1 (2008-06-23)
installed at the same time from a Debian repo) has just flashed
up that I can update as follows, using the update manager:

r-base-core    New version: 2.8.0-1~etch-cran.0
r-base-html    New version: 2.8.0-1~etch-cran.0
r-base-latex   New version: 2.8.0-1~etch-cran.0
r-cran-boot    New version: 1.2.34-1~etch-cran.0
r-cran-cluster New version: 1.11.11-1~etch-cran.0
r-cran-codetools New version: 0.2-1-2~etch-cran.0
r-cran-foreign New version: 0.8.29-1~etch-cran.0
r-cran-kernsmooth New version: 2.22.22-1~etch-cran.0
r-cran-lattice New version: 0.17-15-1~etch-cran.0
r-cran-mgcv    New version: 1.4-1-1~etch-cran.0
r-cran-nlme    New version: 3.1.89-1~etch-cran.0
r-cran-rpart   New version: 3.1.42-1~etch-cran.0
r-cran-survival New version: 2.34-1-1~etch-cran.0
r-cran-vr      New version: 7.2.44-1~etch-cran.0
r-recommended  New version: 2.8.0-1~etch-cran.0

Clearly these are major replacements for the existing installations,
and I'm still too inexperienced with Debian to feel sure of what
might happen if I just tell the update-mananger[*] to go ahead!
[*] gksu /usr/bin/update-manager

Are there any known gotchas up there? And, if it should happen that
something goes wrong, can I revert to my current installation
straightforwardly?

And are there precautions I should take to (a) avoid clashes,
(b) make sure that things should be safe?

And, assuming it seems to go well, are there checks or post-update
administration that I should undertake afterwards?

With thanks, and aoplogies for mu inexperience with this (Debian)
distribution.
Ted.

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E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at manchester.ac.uk>
Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861
Date: 29-Oct-08                                       Time: 23:16:53
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