SystemRequirements’ field

On 12/12/2012 18:33, Paul Gilbert wrote:

Am I correct in thinking that the ?SystemRequirements? field in a
package DESCRIPTION file is purely descriptive, there are no standard
elements that can be extracted by parsing it and used automatically?

No.

Where can I find more details?  The section "The DESCRIPTION file" in 
"Writing R Extensions" says only:

    Other dependencies (external to the R system) should be listed in
    the ?SystemRequirements? field, possibly amplified in a separate
    README file.

Thanks,
Paul