Precedence of R-multiverse vs CRAN

[wlandau]

Suppose a package is in both R-multiverse and CRAN, Which takes precedence?

install.packages()

For installing packages, we recommend the repos argument:

install.packages(
  "polars",
  repos = c(
    "https://production.r-multiverse.org",
    "https://packagemanager.posit.co/cran/2024-11-15"
  )
)

If polars is available in both repos, install.packages() will apparently install from the repo with the highest version of the package. In other words, if R-multiverse has polars 1.0.0 and CRAN has polars 2.0.0, then install.packages() will install from CRAN.

Staging

When it comes to checking packages, does R-universe follow the same rules? When it checks tidypolars in Staging, is the dependency polars guaranteed to come from the same universe, or could it instead pull from CRAN if CRAN has a higher version of polars?

Our recommendation

What do we tell companies who want to qualify and deploy snapshots of R-multiverse Production? Do we tell them to

1. Only pull from CRAN if a dependency is not in R-multiverse, or
2. Take the highest version if a package is in both repositories?

The outcomes of these two options are very different.

[wlandau]

When it comes to checking packages, does R-universe follow the same rules?

yes it does.

What do we tell companies who want to qualify and deploy snapshots of R-multiverse Production?

the recommendations are now at https://r-multiverse.org/production.html.