orphaned packages

Are there many packages that are orphaned, and have a better "half" much 
like bootstrap?

Not many are orphaned -- currently precisely two although one previously
orphaned has acquired a new maintainer recently.   I suspect a few more 
have non-responsive maintainers.

Is there a listing, or directory of "recommended" packages (other than the 
packages downloaded with the initial R install)?

It is precisely the set that come with the R distribution.

The CRAN packages page lists both the priority (possibly "recommended") 
and maintainer (possibly ORPHANED).  The daily check page

http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/checkSummary.html

lists those as well as the result of the latest checks (although today's 
list seems missing results for the last few packages).

Thanks,

Neil Eastep.
An "R" newbie

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Prof Brian Ripley <ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk> writes:

Package bootstrap is orphaned, that is no longer maintained.
Package boot is much more comprehensive, and a recommended

package.

That suggests to me that you always use boot: I do.

Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595