The advantages are very minor (although I do source compilation myself). To Prof Ripley's list I will add that I personally like to know I can compile from source for packages that I depend on in package development, so I can trace down bugs and run R CMD check - but this is a very, very minor advantage.
Best, Kasper On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 6:42 AM, Rainer M Krug <[email protected]> wrote: > Prof Brian Ripley <[email protected]> writes: > > > On 09/09/2013 10:56, Rainer M Krug wrote: > >> Hi > >> > >> I am using Snow Leopard and I can compile packages (I have all tools > >> installed) but I am asking myself: > >> > >> Is there an advantage to using type="source" instead of the binary > >> install of the packages? For certain packages it makes sense to have > >> fine grained control to link to certain versions of C libraries > >> (e.g. rgdal), but is there a general advantage of compiling locally? > > > > There is an advantage if you run multiple versions of R and want to > > share a library directory. The CRAN binary versions are tied to the > > R.framework installation. > > > > But otherwise > > > > - for the majority of packages (which have no compiled code), there is > > almost no advantage in installing from source, but also very little > > loss (you need no extra tools). > > True. > > > > > - The CRAN binaries are built for 3.0.0 I believe, and certainly not > > re-built for patch versions. For a very few packages it is > > advantageous to use the latest patch version (I am thinking of some > > issues with non-Sweave vignettes in recent history, but there have > > been other issues). > > > > - You might well want to use different external C/C++/Fortran > > software, and you may even need to do so or use a different compiler > > (there are packages which install with clang but not llvm-gcc and > > v.v.). > > > Thanks for this detailed response. > > So if my tool chain for compilation is up and running, there can be an > advantage to compile from source. So I will likely stick to that habit. > > Thanks, > > Rainer > > > > > >> > >> Or is that simply a leftover from my Linux days, that I prefer locally > >> compiled packages? > >> > >> Thanks, > >> > >> Rainer > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> R-SIG-Mac mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac > >> > <#secure method=pgpmime mode=sign> > > -- > Rainer M. Krug > > email: RMKrug<at>gmail<dot>com > > _______________________________________________ > R-SIG-Mac mailing list > [email protected] > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] _______________________________________________ R-SIG-Mac mailing list [email protected] https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac
