The advantages are very minor (although I do source compilation myself).
 To Prof Ripley's list I will add that I personally like to know I can
compile from source for packages that I depend on in package development,
so I can trace down bugs and run R CMD check - but this is a very, very
minor advantage.

Best,
Kasper


On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 6:42 AM, Rainer M Krug <Rainer@krugs.de> wrote:

> Prof Brian Ripley <ripley@stats.ox.ac.uk> writes:
>
> > On 09/09/2013 10:56, Rainer M Krug wrote:
> >> Hi
> >>
> >> I am using Snow Leopard and I can compile packages (I have all tools
> >> installed) but I am asking myself:
> >>
> >> Is there an advantage to using type="source" instead of the binary
> >> install of the packages? For certain packages it makes sense to have
> >> fine grained control to link to certain versions of C libraries
> >> (e.g. rgdal), but is there a general advantage of compiling locally?
> >
> > There is an advantage if you run multiple versions of R and want to
> > share a library directory.  The CRAN binary versions are tied to the
> > R.framework installation.
> >
> > But otherwise
> >
> > - for the majority of packages (which have no compiled code), there is
> > almost no advantage in installing from source, but also very little
> > loss (you need no extra tools).
>
> True.
>
> >
> > - The CRAN binaries are built for 3.0.0 I believe, and certainly not
> > re-built for patch versions.  For a very few packages it is
> > advantageous to use the latest patch version (I am thinking of some
> > issues with non-Sweave vignettes in recent history, but there have
> > been other issues).
> >
> > - You might well want to use different external C/C++/Fortran
> > software, and you may even need to do so or use a different compiler
> > (there are packages which install with clang but not llvm-gcc and
> > v.v.).
>
>
> Thanks for this detailed response.
>
> So if my tool chain for compilation is up and running, there can be an
> advantage to compile from source. So I will likely stick to that habit.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rainer
>
>
> >
> >>
> >> Or is that simply a leftover from my Linux days, that I prefer locally
> >> compiled packages?
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> Rainer
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> R-SIG-Mac mailing list
> >> R-SIG-Mac@r-project.org
> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac
> >>
> <#secure method=pgpmime mode=sign>
>
> --
> Rainer M. Krug
>
> email: RMKrug<at>gmail<dot>com
>
> _______________________________________________
> R-SIG-Mac mailing list
> R-SIG-Mac@r-project.org
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac
>

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

