Skip to content

Preview of an alternative R for Windows installer

2 messages · Brian Ripley

Brian Ripley
# 
I have built a version of the current 1.2.2 patched version of R using
Inno Setup2 (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.htm).  (That toolkit is
open source (in Delphi) and was fairly easy to tame. Full details are
in the R-patched sources.) This gives a single ~10Mb file, at

http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/pub/bdr/RWin/SetupR.exe

The idea is that it should look very like a Windows 2000-style install,
and so be intuitive to Windows users.  It comes with an uninstaller, too.
On NT/2000 should install for all users from an administrator account,
for the current user otherwise.

This was built from my everyday-use version of R so should be a better
version than rw1022 for routine use.  However, this is not an official 
release!

I would appreciate feedback on this: in particular 

   if people like it,
   
   if `c:/Program Files/R/rw1023' is a good default install folder,
   
   if there is still a need for floppy-sized installs (which Inno Setup
   can generate).

Direct feedback to me only, please.

If the reaction is positive, my intentions are to make both forms of
installation available for 1.2.3, and then only this form from 1.3.0.

Winhlp files are deliberately missing: if anyone objects to dropping those
for 1.3.0 please let me know.

B
3 days later
Brian Ripley
# 
I have had many replies, so no more feedback, please.

Most of the replies were very helpful, for which thanks.  Unfortunately a
few were along the lines of
Most people much preferred this version to rwinst.exe, but not all.
Quite a few saw a need for floppy-sized pieces for students.

There has been some misunderstanding:

(1) This was not an official release, and it is not rw1023.  It was a
snapshot from my system, and the first version contained a few missing
links.  A couple of you were talking about using this on courses. I would
be wary of using something as untested as this, so please do not distribute
it unless you have already discussed this with me. It is probable that R
1.2.3 will be packaged this way in addition, currently expected ca April
20.

(2) It was not a request for suggestions for `catering to the whims of
Windows users', as one respondent put it.


We are planning to bundle packages differently from 1.3.x, and that
has implications for installer, not least the size of them.

B