[R-SIG-Mac] 'Default' macos (x86) download URL now gone?

[Dirk Eddelbuettel]

Simon,

On 24 April 2023 at 18:28, Simon Urbanek wrote:
| thanks - the problem is that there is not a single installer package (for several years now), so that URL is ambiguous. Whether the missing link is a good or bad depends on how it is used. I would argue that any link to that URL is inherently bad, because there is no way of knowing that the link works for a particular system - that's why I have originally removed it with the R 4.3.0 release. I have restored it now, making it point to the R 4.3.0 arm64 release since that is arguably the closest to a single "latest R". R releases have not been stored in /bin/macosx since 2015, so anyone using a link there is asking for trouble.

Restoring it _but switching the architecture under it_ is another subtle way
to still break things where the expectation based on a decade+ of prior
practice was that this works:

   installer: Error - R 4.3.0 for macOS (ARM64) can’t be installed on this computer.
   Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

I long have repaired my (main) script in r-ci but this will likely surprise others.

| For any CI I would strongly recommend using the "last-success" links: https://mac.r-project.org/big-sur/last-success/ in particular the .xz versions are they are specifically designed to be used by CI (small download, fast and localized install).

That is a fine idea but no replacement as it leads to a need for a different
deployment and how / where to untar etc.

Maybe you are someone wants to wrap that into a suitable script or 'action
snippet' and document that?   I can't, I don't even have a mac.

Dirk

-- 
dirk.eddelbuettel.com | @eddelbuettel | edd using debian.org