Message-ID: <MWHPR05MB3582FBB7E07DF0C2EA82931DF9800@MWHPR05MB3582.namprd05.prod.outlook.com>
Date: 2019-01-14T23:52:51Z
From: Martin Morgan
Subject: [Bioc-devel] support the stable version of R
In-Reply-To: <CAKYJqBxhn-_+Aw0EzBuVXPG9WRdF16+FC6s4cghV9A+QbopnRQ@mail.gmail.com>
Remember that Bioconductor packages are tested nightly on our build system, and this nightly testing is an important component of offering your users a stable environment, not just for your package but the other packages they use. Recreating this standard environment is facilitated by the standard Bioconductor package installation instruction
BiocManager::install("YourPackage")
The nightly builds are done on a platform where all packages are from the same Bioconductor release, built on the same version of R. Your newly accepted package is in the '3.9' version of Bioconductor, which uses the 3.6 version of R. It follows that the best user experience is provided to those using R 3.6. By 'allowing' R 3.5 and non-standard installation (e.g., from github) you are ultimately compromising the quality standards of Bioconductor and the experience of the users of your package. The support site has many questions from people who install packages from different Bioconductor versions, so it is clearly not in your interest, or the Bioconductor project interest, or your user's interest, to enable this kind of usage.
It is hard to see into the future, so saying something like R >= 3.5 is really quite bold! Conversely, packages with out-of-date promises like R >= 2.1 are not tested on the systems they claim compatibility with, and can be easily broken on old versions of R where their dependencies are no longer available.