[R-SIG-Mac] [R] Upgrading R means I lose my packages

Simon Urbanek simon.urbanek at r-project.org
Thu Aug 28 14:17:33 CEST 2008


On Aug 28, 2008, at 6:35 AM, James Milks wrote:

> So, what it boils down to is that I'm installing my packages at too  
> high of a level (I'm an administrator for my system) and should save  
> them in places other than the R framework folder.
>

The update doesn't affect any package that you installed and the GUI  
remembers them (see R for Mac FAQ 5.2) - click on the search field pop- 
up in Package Installer and it will offer you to select all packages  
you have installed in the previous version of R.

In addition, trying to set R_LIBS via environment is a bad idea since  
there are so many ways R can be started, so please use .Rprofile  
or .Renviron as suggested in the documentation.

Cheers,
Simon


> Thanks too all for the tips and links.
>
> Jim Milks
>
> On Aug 28, 2008, at 5:08 AM, Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
>
>> The standard R mechanisms for installing packages into a different  
>> library
>> apply on Mac OS X just as anywhere else.  It was not said that R  
>> was being run from the R.app GUI, but I'll assume that is the case.
>>
>> The rw-FAQ provides detailed advice for Windows users: see
>>
>> http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/rw-FAQ.html#What_0027s-the-best-way-to-upgrade_003f
>> http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/rw-FAQ.html#I-don_0027t-have-permission-to-write-to-the-R_002d2_002e7_002e2_005clibrary-directory
>>
>> The differences for Mac OS users are small -- some of the names and  
>> how to set the library path via R_LIBS.
>>
>> We arrange not to install packages within .Library on any of our  
>> systems -- and for most users they do not have permission to do so.
>>
>> On Wed, 27 Aug 2008, William Revelle wrote:
>>
>>> This is actually an R-sig-mac question so I am responding there.
>>>
>>>
>>> In general, if you want to install a new version without losing  
>>> the previous packages,  using the finder, go to Library/Receipts  
>>> and remove the R.app and R.Gui receipts.  Then install the new  
>>> version. That will keep the previous packages.  This is not  
>>> mysterious, this is R.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks to Simon et al. for the upgrade.
>>>
>>> Bill
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> At 11:00 PM -0400 8/27/08, Charilaos Skiadas wrote:
>>>> On Aug 27, 2008, at 10:40 PM, Rolf Turner wrote:
>>>>> On 28/08/2008, at 2:02 PM, James Milks wrote:
>>>>>> The title says it all.  Does anyone know of a way to save your  
>>>>>> packages when you upgrade to a new version of R?  This may seem  
>>>>>> petty, but I'm accumulating enough packages that having to  
>>>>>> download and install each of them anew every time I install a  
>>>>>> new version of R is rather of a pain. Ideally, I would like the  
>>>>>> new version of R to recognize the packages I've installed on  
>>>>>> the previous version without needing to reinstall the  
>>>>>> packages.  Is that possible?
>>>>>> My system: Mac OS 10.5.4.
>>>>>> Current R version: 2.7.1
>>>>> Mac OS moves in mysterious ways, but apparently your  
>>>>> installation moves in more mysterious
>>>>> ways than most.
>>>>> I also (by necessity, not by choice) run Mac OS.  But I  
>>>>> certainly don't lose my
>>>>> packages when I update R.  The new version of R certainly  
>>>>> ``recognizes'' the packages
>>>>> that I have installed.  No action required.
>>>>> There may be something funny about *where* you have your  
>>>>> packages installed, and
>>>>> what environment variables you have set.
>>>>> To answer your question ``Is that possible?'' --- Yes.  Not just  
>>>>> possible,
>>>>> but universal.  Except, it would seem, in your case.  What have  
>>>>> you done
>>>>> to offend the gods? :-)
>>>> Actually have had the same problem as James. By default, unless  
>>>> I'm mistaken, R will save installed packages within the  
>>>> "R.framework" framework (system-wide installation). This  
>>>> framework gets completely replaced when a new version is  
>>>> installed. In my system, the location of these packages is:
>>>> /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library
>>>> So unless I am mistaken you have to take some action to prevent  
>>>> packages from being installed there. I do hope I am wrong.
>>>>
>>>>> 	cheers,
>>>>>
>>>>> 		Rolf Turner
>>>> Haris Skiadas
>>>> Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
>>>> Hanover College
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> William Revelle		http://personality-project.org/revelle.html
>>> Professor http://personality-project.org/personality.html
>>> Department of Psychology             http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/psych/
>>> Northwestern University	http://www.northwestern.edu/
>>> Attend  ISSID/ARP:2009               http://issid.org/issid.2009/
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> R-SIG-Mac mailing list
>>> R-SIG-Mac at stat.math.ethz.ch
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac
>>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
>> Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
>> University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
>> 1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
>> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595
>
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