trying to install R package: ‘ggplot2’ is not available [duplicate]

Question

This question already has answers here:

How should I deal with "package 'xxx' is not available (for R version x.y.z)" warning? (18 answers)

Closed 7 years ago.

I can post more data if you let me know what I should run, but here is the error and the version.

> install.packages("ggplot2", dependencies = TRUE)
Warning in install.packages :
  package ‘ggplot2’ is not available
Installing package(s) into ‘/home/johnny4000/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/2.12’
(as ‘lib’ is unspecified)
Warning in install.packages :
  package ‘ggplot2’ is not available

and the version

> version               
platform       x86_64-pc-linux-gnu          
arch           x86_64                       
os             linux-gnu                    
system         x86_64, linux-gnu            
status                                      
major          2                            
minor          12.1                         
year           2010                         
month          12                           
day            16                           
svn rev        53855                        
language       R                            
version.string R version 2.12.1 (2010-12-16)

Answer 1

Two options:

1. Update your verions of R. Version 2.12 is pretty old (this is the option you should go for).
2. If step 1 isn't possible, then you could try the archived packages, but that may be tricky since you will need all of the associated dependencies.

Answer 2

I have had this problem before, and in my case, it was one of the following problems each time:

1. Bad network connection. Sometimes, my old internet connection would get spotty, and I would get this error if the repository was connected successfully but the connection was interrupted while transferring the repository contents.
2. Out-of-date repository. All repositories are not updated together, since each is managed by a different individual/group/organization. Switching repositories can get you a different selection of packages and with different versions.
3. Out-of-date R version. I notice you're running a version of R that is several versions older than the current stable. Some packages do not seem to display for certain versions of R. I think this has to do with some dependency listing within the package. Updating may fix this.

Good luck!