关于R 3.5暂未在Linux镜像源提供的原因咨询

Hey there, let me break down the key reasons behind this version discrepancy you noticed:

• Different Packaging & Release Workflows
  R's core team publishes the source code first, but each platform handles packaging independently. Windows binaries are managed directly by the R core team, so they can push out new versions quickly once the source is ready. For Linux, though, packages are maintained by volunteers for each distribution (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, etc.) or community repositories. These maintainers need time to:

  • Test R 3.5 against their distribution's existing dependency stack
  • Fix any compatibility issues with system libraries or other packages
  • Build the binary packages and submit them to mirrors

• Linux Distribution Stability Focus
  Most Linux distributions prioritize system stability over bleeding-edge updates. R 3.5 was a major release with breaking changes for some packages, so maintainers often take extra time to validate that upgrading won't break existing user workflows or dependency chains. Stable branches (like Debian Stable) will lag more than testing/unstable branches for this reason.

• Mirror Sync Latency
  Even once Linux packages are built, they don't appear on all mirrors at the same time. CRAN mirrors sync on their own schedules, so it can take hours or days for the updated r-base-core 3.5 packages to propagate across all repositories. As of April 28, 2018, this sync process was likely still in progress.

If You Need R 3.5 on Linux Immediately #

If you can't wait for the mirrors to catch up, you have two reliable options:

1. Build from source: Grab the R 3.5 source code and compile it yourself. You'll need to install build dependencies first (e.g., build-essential, libcurl4-openssl-dev, libxml2-dev on Ubuntu/Debian).
2. Use a third-party repository: For Ubuntu users, check out the CRAN-maintained PPA which often publishes newer R versions faster than the default system repos.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Edgar Manukyan