core packages in R 2.XX.Y

Question

I wonder how to know which packages are core in R 2.XX.Y. Suppose if I install. R 2.14.1 then which packages will come with this version. Thanks

Answer 1

1) You can look in the sources.

2) The questions isn't even clear as there are included as well as recommended libraries. Most people will understand your question as asking for both sets.

3) On Debian, we split the install directories so this makes it easy to both answers for question 2):

edd@max:~$ ls /usr/lib/R/library/         ## 
base       datasets    lattice  nnet      stats4
boot       foreign     MASS     parallel  survival
class      graphics    Matrix   rpart     tcltk
cluster    grDevices   methods  spatial   tools
codetools  grid        mgcv     splines   utils
compiler   KernSmooth  nlme     stats

4) And looking at the sources gives the split between true defaults and Recommended: (and these are softlinks from the versioned tarballs)

edd@max:~$ COLUMNS=60 ls ~/src/debian/R/R-2.14.1/src/library/
base      grDevices     methods      splines  tools
compiler  grid          parallel     stats    utils
datasets  Makefile.in   profile      stats4
graphics  Makefile.win  Recommended  tcltk

and

edd@max:~$ COLUMNS=60 ls ~/src/debian/R/R-2.14.1/src/library/Recommended/
boot_1.3-3.tar.gz         MASS_7.3-16.tar.gz
boot.tgz                  MASS.tgz
class_7.3-3.tar.gz        Matrix_1.0-2.tar.gz
class.tgz                 Matrix.tgz
cluster_1.14.1.tar.gz     mgcv_1.7-12.tar.gz
cluster.tgz               mgcv.tgz
codetools_0.2-8.tar.gz    nlme_3.1-102.tar.gz
codetools.tgz             nlme.tgz
foreign_0.8-48.tar.gz     nnet_7.3-1.tar.gz
foreign.tgz               nnet.tgz
KernSmooth_2.23-7.tar.gz  rpart_3.1-50.tar.gz
KernSmooth.tgz            rpart.tgz
lattice_0.20-0.tar.gz     spatial_7.3-3.tar.gz
lattice.tgz               spatial.tgz
Makefile.in               survival_2.36-10.tar.gz
Makefile.win              survival.tgz
edd@max:~$ COLUMNS=60 

5) Lastly, the packages also say this in their DESCRIPTION fields:

edd@max:~$ grep -i Recommended /usr/lib/R/library/*/DESCRIPTION
/usr/lib/R/library/boot/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/class/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/cluster/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/codetools/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/foreign/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/KernSmooth/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/lattice/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/MASS/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/Matrix/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/mgcv/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/nlme/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/nnet/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/rpart/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/spatial/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
/usr/lib/R/library/survival/DESCRIPTION:Priority: recommended
edd@max:~$ 

and

edd@max:~$ grep "Priority: base" /usr/lib/R/library/*/DESCRIPTION
/usr/lib/R/library/base/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/compiler/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/datasets/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/graphics/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/grDevices/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/grid/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/methods/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/parallel/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/splines/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/stats4/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/stats/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/tcltk/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/tools/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
/usr/lib/R/library/utils/DESCRIPTION:Priority: base
edd@max:~$ 

All those answers are for 2.14.1.