sigh... the missing reference. [1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3463837/is-it-good-practice-to-update-r-packages-often
On June 9, 2026 7:37:30 AM PDT, Jeff Newmiller via R-help <[email protected]> wrote: >You claim that this position is "objectively questionable advice" ... but >Stack Overflow moderators concluded that this was an opinion-based argument >and shut it down. [1] > >While CRAN is remarkably robust at ensuring that packages compile and pass >checks together, user-facing API changes and behavioral shifts still happen >frequently. > >For an active research project, updating daily introduces unnecessary moving >targets. CRAN's strength as a monorepo is excellent for developers, but for >end-users running data pipelines, code stability and isolated lockfiles >usually trump tracking the bleeding edge. The very stability that you rely on >also means that you can also afford to delay updates until you have time to >consider the implications of api shifts and algorithm missions that package >authors inject on their own schedule. > >I will take the SO lead and not respond further on this topic. > > >On June 9, 2026 5:24:26 AM PDT, Dirk Eddelbuettel <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>On 8 June 2026 at 06:26, Jeff Newmiller via R-help wrote: >>| Don't upgrade packages just because upgrade.packages says there are new >>packages every day... that way leads to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). >> >>As a general rule, this is objectively questionable advice. >> >>CRAN _excels_ at being _always being buildable / installable_. >> >>To use a software analogy, we could call this 'build at @HEAD' as one would >>at a large mono-repo. Which is what CRAN essentially is. I have updated >>more or less daily / multiple times per week since CRAN started, and I have >>done so mostly on Linux where it is "even more expensive" as one generally >>instals from source (unless newer services like r2u or cran2copr are used). >> >>But if you know what you are doing, and design you deployments well with >>packages you trust, and maybe avoid some others you trust less / have shown a >>tendency to change abruptly then this is as stable as it gets. I sometimes >>reference some examples for that: CRANberries has been running more-or-less >>unalted since 2007, on a machine that gets the daily (or close to daily) >>updates and has stayed alive near-constantly. Same for some things I run that >>are less visible to the outside. So ... "your mileage may vary". CRAN >>supports "continuous" updates just fine. It does it to itself too. >> >>Dirk >> >>-- >>Dirk Eddelbuettel | [email protected] | http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com >> >>Support my Tour de Shore 2026 ride benefiting Maywood Fine Arts! More info at >>https://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/blog/2026/04/03#sponsor_tour_de_shore_2026 > >-- >Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity. > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > >______________________________________________ >[email protected] mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see >https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >PLEASE do read the posting guide https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. -- Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity. [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
