Dear list,
Various helpers exist in the wild to install older archived versions of
CRAN packages, for example `remotes::install_version() ` or
`versions::install.version()`.
The former makes use of an “archive.rds” file stored in the CRAN
/Meta directory:
https://github.com/r-lib/remotes/blob/9b5dc29102a486df2f42c88bb19027a7cd54a721/R/install-version.R#L68
Given its existence, I was wondering why there is no official support in
`install.packages()`?
I was browsing the mailing archives of r-devel but surprisingly could
not find a previous discussion about it.
`remotes::install_version()` only uses the tarballs and enforces
installation from source.
If it’s due to dependency issues, i.e. that there is no guarantee that
older versions work with the current versions of CRAN packages, then the
availability of downloading and installing the tarballs manually from
the Archive web page could also be questioned per se.
I think people know that they are on their own in this situation and
that there is no guarantee for archived versions to function properly,
especially of one goes back substantially in time.
A simple note in ?install.packages() could further clarify this.
A few questions:
- Does an archive for older binaries exist for CRAN packages?
- How is CRAN creating “archive.rds”?
- Would a PR adding this functionality to `install.packages()` be
accepted by R-core?
Patrick
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