Bug 18330: type argument documentation in install.packages

[shannonpileggi]

Bug 18330: type argument documentation in install.packages

The current documentation for the type argument to install.packages has the following:

Possible values of type are (currently) "source", "mac.binary", and "win.binary": the appropriate binary type where supported can also be selected as "binary".

This is inaccurate for a few reasons:

There are other possible values of type, specifically "mac.binary.XXXXX" where XXXXX defines a build name. (e.g. mac.binary.big-sur-arm64 for M1 macs on Big Sur or newer).
"mac.binary" only installs the High Sierra x86_64 build, even on other systems.
The documentation is implying that "mac.binary" and "binary" are equivalent options, which they are not.
I suggest reframing this such that "source" and "binary" are presented as the two primary options, with a follow-up discussion about the various "YYY.binary.ZZZZZ" options if something goes wrong and a different version is installed.

(There may be additional issues/corrections needed for Windows but I'm not a Windows user.)

[mikerspencer]

Suggested replacement text:

Possible values of type are (currently) "source" or "binary", with the latter available for Windows or Mac.
The "binary" argument takes the form of "win.binary" or "mac.binary.*", where * defines the Mac build name.
The appropriate binary type where supported can also be selected as "binary".