[R] Software lifecycle for R releases (aka practical limits of support for older versions)

[Marc Schwartz]

On Jun 25, 2009, at 11:38 AM, Rowe, Brian Lee Yung (Portfolio  
Analytics) wrote:

> Hello useRs:
>
> Does anyone have thoughts on the lifecycle of older releases of R? I
> know that currently the 2.8.x and 2.9.x releases seem to be actively
> "supported" on the mailing lists, but what about older releases, say
> 2.4.x? Curious to hear when people think older versions of R become
> obsolete and unsupportable on the lists (or other venues).
>
> Regards,
> Brian

For a description of R's formal SDLC, read:

   http://www.r-project.org/doc/R-FDA.pdf

While that document is targeted to R users in the domain of regulated  
clinical trials, much of the content is relevant to other general use  
domains.

 From the perspective of getting community support on R-Help, if you  
are using version 2.4.0 and you post a version independent query to  
the list, you will get a helpful reply, especially if you don't  
include in the post that you are running version 2.4.0.

However, it is possible that in the replies, there may be references  
to functions, function arguments or packages that are part of or are  
designed for newer versions of R. Upon reading that reply, you may end  
up scratching your head, wondering why you cannot find them in your  
version, which may prompt you to reply requesting clarification. That  
may lead you down the path to the next scenario...

If you include in your post (or a follow up) that you are actually  
using version 2.4.0, you will get a series of rather curt  
recommendations to update to the current release version of R included  
in any responses to your query.

However, if you post a query pertaining to what you perceive as a bug  
in 2.4.0 or a more recent version (possibly even 2.9.0 with 2.9.1  
imminent), you will get a pretty rapid stream of replies, with a level  
of hostility (flaming) included. Those replies will tell you in no  
uncertain terms, that you better upgrade to the most recent version of  
R (which may include a "patched" version) before reporting bugs  
against versions that from a development standpoint, are no longer  
supported. You would be expected to check the most recent version that  
you can install to see if the behavior that you perceive as a bug is  
still present.

The worst case scenario perhaps, in terms of being on the receiving  
end of flames, would be to actually submit a formal bug report on an  
older version of R, as that requires a **volunteer** member of R Core  
to have to stop what they are doing and spend time manually  
administering that report.

Finally, a good reference to go along with this general discussion, is  
the Posting Guide, listed at the bottom of all e-mails coming from the  
list:

   http://www.r-project.org/posting-guide.html

HTH,

Marc Schwartz