[R-sig-Debian] Difference between "depends on" and "import"

[Dirk Eddelbuettel]

Salut Denis.
On 29 August 2009 at 14:46, denis brion wrote:
|  Hi
|  I have noticed that, in some packages description, two fields are existing
| : "depends on" and "imports" . Where could I find the definition/difference
| between these two notions ? 

Well, that has nothing to do with 'R on Debian/Ubuntu' and could be / should
be asked on r-help (or maybe r-devel).

In short, this has to do with which other R package the R package whose
DESCRIPTION you were reading "loads via library() or require()" -- that's the
Depends:, and which packages it "imports via NAMESPACE".

A finer discussion should be available in the 'R Extensions' manual.

| This question seems rather stupid, but I have very restricted Internet
| access ("only" during week ends and holy-days) and a trustworthy IT link
| would be less misleading than google search and errors. 

If everything else fails you could always read the manuals. On Debian /
Ubuntu, install any one or more of r-doc-pdf, r-doc-html or r-doc-info
depending on format you like the best.  I enjoy both pdf for nicely formatted
manuals and info for quick (and searchable) browsing from within emacs.

Hope this helps,  Dirk

-- 
Three out of two people have difficulties with fractions.