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I have looked around and have not found many opinions on if it is important to update your R software as soon as a new version is released.

Any opinions would be welcomed!

Shelley MacNeil
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    This an opinionated question, but two things in terms of R core: 1. it is free, so updating is cheap in dollar terms. 2. It is rare that something will be broken with an update as there is extensive testing. However, the testing aspect is less true with packages in general. – lmo Jul 20 '16 at 23:45
  • It is good to keep up, especially because package development is so fast and some packages you may need won't support your R version. Other than that, I know people who use R that has been released years ago and are totally fine. – Roman Luštrik Jul 21 '16 at 05:22

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As with any software, you should carefully evaluate what is included in any new release. If the release consists only of bug-fixes, it is usually expedient to install it as soon as it is practicable for you to do so. If the scope of the release is more expansive -- new features, etc. -- you should review the release more carefully.

If you're in the middle of an important project with a killer deadline, it's quite reasonable to wait a little while before applying any update.

Also, you should as a matter of routine re-run a selection of jobs, that you know the answers to, in order to be sure that the answers are still the same. "No, mistakes of this nature don't happen often, but they do happen."

Mike Robinson
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