[R-sig-Debian] Dependency failures on installing older R packages in Ubuntu

[Dirk Eddelbuettel]

On 22 February 2016 at 20:56, Paul Gilbert wrote:
| 
| 
| On 02/22/2016 07:48 PM, Dirk Eddelbuettel wrote:
| >
| > On 23 February 2016 at 00:21, Jordan Dawe wrote: | I�ve been trying
| > to install the CRAN Ubuntu r-base-3.1.2 package on Ubuntu 14.04, and
| > I keep getting the following failure: | | ---------- | |
| > vagrant at default-ubuntu-1404:/etc$ sudo apt-get install
| > r-base=3.1.2-*
| >
| > That is a version that was released well over a year ago. Why not R
| > 3.2.3 ?
| >
| > | Reading package lists... Done | | Building dependency tree | |
| > Reading state information... Done | | Selected version
| > '3.1.2-1trusty0' (CRAN:14.04/trusty [all]) for 'r-base' | | Some
| > packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have | |
| > requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable |
| > | distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
| > | | or been moved out of Incoming. | | The following information may
| > help to resolve the situation: | | | The following packages have
| > unmet dependencies: | |  r-base : Depends: r-recommended (=
| > 3.1.2-1trusty0) but 3.2.3-6trusty0 is to be installed
| >
| > apt is telling you that is has 3.2.3. Why don't you not use it?
| >
| > We are volunteers.
| 
| >We do promise that you can install ANY
| > combinations of ALL packages at ANY time.
| 
| If that is not a typo (do *NOT*) then I think you are working too hard. 
| I know for a fact that all combinations of all packages cannot work 
| together.

Sorry, it was a typo as I was trying to get out of the office. What I was
trying to ascertain was that

  We do NOT promise that you can install ANY
  combinations of ALL packages at ANY time.

but rather
 
| > We work hard to give you the current packages, reliably.

promise just this: current packages, reliably.
 
| This is admirable, and enough I think.

I concur. And it works for me. If someone needs a wider matrix of
combinations, they need to step up. Or live with the fact that the system
happens to NOT be designed to support random install of random old versions
at random times.

Current. Now. And almost always reliably.  Which is a pretty good deal.

Dirk
 
| Paul
| 
| >
| > Dirk
| >
| > | |           Recommends: r-base-html but it is not going to be
| > installed | |           Recommends: r-doc-html but it is not going to
| > be installed | | E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken
| > packages. | | ---------- | | | In my apt/sources I have the line | |
| > | deb     http://cran.fhcrc.org/bin/linux/ubuntu/ trusty/ | | | Any
| > ideas? | | | Jordan | | | This email and any information disclosed in
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-- 
http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com | @eddelbuettel | edd at debian.org