Recommended way to change defaultPackages under Windows
Douglas Bates wrote:
What is the recommended way to change the default set of packages that
are loaded at startup by R for Windows? I am writing vignettes for
the Devore6 package which my introductory engineering statistics
students will use and I would like to describe how the R environment
can be changed so that this package is loaded by default.
I understand from the R for Windows FAQ that one way would be to
install a Rprofile or Rprofile.site file containing
options(defaultPackages = c(options("defaultPackages"), "Devore6"))
Would this be the recommended way?
Right (or use an environment variable). ?options tells us:
"defaultPackages:
the packages that are attached by default when R starts up. Initially
set from value of the environment variables R_DefaultPackages, or if
that is unset to c("methods", "ctest"). (Set R_DEFAULT_PACKAGES to NULL
or a comma-separated list of package names.) A call to options should be
in your `.Rprofile' file to ensure that the change takes effect before
the base package is initialized (see Startup)."
But the user's .Rprofile might be more appropriate for students who
don't have access to R's /etc directory likes in our department's
configuration.
BTW: Is ?options completely correct?
I have [1] "ts" "nls" "modreg" "mva" "ctest" "methods"
in my list of defaultPackages, not only "methods" and "ctest". Looks
like an update is required. (talking about R-1.7.1 unpatched)
Uwe