[R] ubuntu system refuses to update packages

[Dirk Eddelbuettel]

On 9 November 2008 at 20:35, Alan Jackson wrote:
| There must be a simple answer to this.
| 
| I'm running ubuntu gutsy, currently have 2.7.2 loaded, but the update
| tools refuse to update it, and don't tell me why. With apt-get I get :
| 
| [668 ~]$ sudo apt-get -u -V --simulate dist-upgrade
| Reading package lists... Done
| Building dependency tree       
| Reading state information... Done
| Calculating upgrade... Done
| The following packages have been kept back:
|    r-base (2.7.2-1gutsy0 => 2.8.0-1gutsy1)
|    r-base-core (2.7.2-1gutsy0 => 2.8.0-1gutsy1)
|    r-base-dev (2.7.2-1gutsy0 => 2.8.0-1gutsy1)
|    r-cran-rpart (3.1.41-1gutsy0 => 3.1.42-1gutsy0)
|    r-recommended (2.7.2-1gutsy0 => 2.8.0-1gutsy1)
| 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
| 
| If I use a gui package manager, it tells me the update will break
| the installation and refuses to go forward, but doesn't show what the
| issue is.

In cases like this just take the set of packages and pass them directly to
'sudo apt-get install' ie

   $ sudo apt-get install r-base r-base-core r-base-dev r-cran-rpart r-recommended

which will show which packages this will install (as new), upgrade, or
remove, if any.  It still allows you to pack out if you so choose.

In this case it is probably 'just' a fortran or c++ library transition.  If
you are still running gutsy you are also now two Ubuntu releases behind so
you may want to consider upgrading to hardy and/or intrepid.

By the way, this would have a good question for the r-sig-debian list.

Hth, Dirk

-- 
Three out of two people have difficulties with fractions.