diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d05e8cb..3875459 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ BUILDTYPES+=make
 BUILDTYPES+=perl-module
 BUILDTYPES+=perl-module-makemaker
 BUILDTYPES+=python-module
+BUILDTYPES+=r-package
 
 HELPER_HOOKS_SHELL+=update-mime-database
 HELPER_HOOKS_SHELL+=glib-compile-schemas
diff --git a/buildtypes/r-package.sh.in b/buildtypes/r-package.sh.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df9ad0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildtypes/r-package.sh.in
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#
+#
+# bee magic for python modules
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2009-2012
+#       Marius Tolzmann <tolzmann@molgen.mpg.de>
+#       Tobias Dreyer <dreyer@molgen.mpg.de>
+#       and other bee developers
+#
+# This file is part of bee.
+#
+# bee is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+
+# this needs to be forced for now
+if [ ${BEE_BUILDTYPE} != "r-package" ] ; then
+    return
+fi
+
+BEE_BUILDTYPE_DETECTED="r-package"
+
+: ${R:=R}
+
+RHOME=$(${R} RHOME)
+
+RLIBRARY="${RHOME}/library"
+
+#### bee_install() ############################################################
+
+bee_install() {
+    start_cmd mkdir -p ${D}/${RLIBRARY}
+    start_cmd ${R} CMD INSTALL -l ${D}/${RLIBRARY} ${S}
+}
diff --git a/src/bee-init.sh.in b/src/bee-init.sh.in
index 6a43391..6e2a8e5 100644
--- a/src/bee-init.sh.in
+++ b/src/bee-init.sh.in
@@ -211,6 +211,46 @@ function initialize() {
             surl="${surl} ${pname}.tar.gz"
         fi
 
+        if [[ "${surl}" = http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/* ]] ; then
+            local cran_pname
+            local cran_version
+            local cran_revision
+            local cran_suffix
+
+            # set suffix
+            cran_suffix=.tar${pname#*.tar}
+            # remove suffix
+            cran_pname=${pname%.tar*}
+            # extract version and revision
+            cran_version=${cran_pname##*_}
+            # set pname
+            cran_pname=${cran_pname%_*}
+
+            if [[ "${cran_version}" = *-* ]] ; then
+                # set revision
+                cran_revision=${cran_version#*-}
+            fi
+
+            # set version
+            cran_version=${cran_version%%-*}
+
+            if [[ "${cran_revision}" = *-* ]] ; then
+                break;
+            fi
+
+            pname="${cran_pname}"
+            pname+="-${cran_version}"
+            pname+="${cran_revision+_${cran_revision}}"
+
+            surl="${surl%/*}/${cran_pname}"
+            surl+='_${PKGVERSION}${PKGEXTRAVERSION_DASH}'
+            surl+="${cran_suffix}"
+
+            if [ -z "${OPT_BUILDTYPE}" ] ; then
+                OPT_BUILDTYPE=r-package
+            fi
+        fi
+
         # and remove all HTTP-GET variables..
         pname=${pname%%\?*}
 
diff --git a/src/beesh.sh.in b/src/beesh.sh.in
index 45077de..4c8e2c8 100644
--- a/src/beesh.sh.in
+++ b/src/beesh.sh.in
@@ -211,12 +211,12 @@ function bee_init_builddir() {
 
     print_info "==> initializing build environment .."
 
-    if [ -d "${W}" ] ; then
+    if [ -d "${BEEWORKDIR}" ] ; then
         if [ "${OPT_CLEANUP}" = "yes" ] ; then
-            print_info " -> cleaning work dir ${W} .."
-            rm -fr ${W}
+            print_info " -> cleaning work dir ${BEEWORKDIR} .."
+            rm -fr ${BEEWORKDIR}
         else
-            print_error "error initializing build-dir ${W}"
+            print_error "error initializing build-dir ${BEEWORKDIR}"
             print_error "please use -c to force a cleanup."
             exit 1
         fi
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ function bee_init_buildinsourcedir() {
     if [ "${B}" == "${S}" ] ; then
         link=${BEEWORKDIR}/build
         print_info " -> B=S linking build dir ${link} to source dir"
-        ln -s ${S#${W}/} ${link}
+        ln -s ${S#${BEEWORKDIR}/} ${link}
     else
         print_info " -> creating build dir ${B}"
         mkdir -p ${B}
@@ -954,9 +954,6 @@ PV=( ${PKGVERSION[@]} )
 BEEPKGROOT="${BEE_TMP_BUILDROOT}/${PKGNAME}"
 BEEWORKDIR="${BEEPKGROOT}/${PKGFULLPKG}"
 
-R=${BEEPKGROOT}
-W=${BEEWORKDIR}
-
 F=${BEEPKGROOT}/files
 S=${BEEWORKDIR}/source
 B=${BEEWORKDIR}/build