diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-dt/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-dt/package.py
index 83720e9e43..3b92048565 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-dt/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-dt/package.py
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@
 
 
 class RDt(RPackage):
-    """Data objects in R can be rendered as HTML tables using the JavaScript
+    """A Wrapper of the JavaScript Library 'DataTables'
+
+    Data objects in R can be rendered as HTML tables using the JavaScript
     library 'DataTables' (typically via R Markdown or Shiny). The 'DataTables'
     library has been included in this R package. The package name 'DT' is an
     abbreviation of 'DataTables'."""
@@ -16,6 +18,7 @@ class RDt(RPackage):
     url      = "https://cloud.r-project.org/src/contrib/DT_0.1.tar.gz"
     list_url = "https://cloud.r-project.org/src/contrib/Archive/DT"
 
+    version('0.17', sha256='e3430292421dcc2b6ad5f2deda729f0603da4eb31f86d071833e6e11abf3fb56')
     version('0.13', sha256='79a073fe96980ce150d790ab76133c9e80bd463270c34d149c03934a622d63b5')
     version('0.8', sha256='90195054148806cf31c7db5c41f72d5389c75adc0b1183606a9babd2c6ae8e21')
     version('0.7', sha256='1de3f170deccd9e3aaefc057dd87c498e3b3f7f88eff645cf165ac34ffe3de2c')
@@ -27,7 +30,7 @@ class RDt(RPackage):
 
     depends_on('r-htmltools@0.3.6:', type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on('r-htmlwidgets@1.3:', type=('build', 'run'))
+    depends_on('r-jsonlite@0.9.16:', when='@0.8:', type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on('r-magrittr', type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on('r-crosstalk', type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on('r-promises', when='@0.5:', type=('build', 'run'))
-    depends_on('r-jsonlite@0.9.16:', when='@0.8:', type=('build', 'run'))