2.1 Installing R
In this session#
-
Understand the different mechanisms for installing R
-
Installing R from source and pre-compiled binaries
Three mechanisms for installing R#
You have three different mechanisms for installing R on a Linux machine:
-
Install from a Linux package manager
- For example
yum
(Red Hat) orapt
(Ubuntu)
- For example
-
Compile from source
- Download the R source code and compile using the relevant GCC compiler
-
Install from pre-compiled binaries provided by RStudio
- Download and install the pre-compiled binaries available from RStudio
Method 1: Installing R using yum or apt#
Installing from yum
or apt
(or similar) is traditionally the mechanism that most administrators would use.
Alert
However, updating the R installation will overwrite previous installations.
For data science work in production, it is important to provide code stability by installing multiple versions of R side-by-side.
This means that using your Linux package manager for installing R in production is not a good idea.
Tip
We recommend you don't use a Linux package manager to install R.
Method 2: Compile R from source#
For data science work in production, it is important to provide code stability by installing multiple versions of R side-by-side.
You can achieve this by installing R from source.
- Download the source code
- Create a "make" configuration
- Run
make
- Run
make install
This offers maximum flexibility, because you can specify the location of the installed package and you can optimize for your hardware.
Instructions for installing R from source
The downside of installing R from source is that it takes some time for the compilation to complete.
If you want to learn more about make
you can read about it here: https://swcarpentry.github.io/make-novice/
Method 3: Install from pre-compiled binaries#
RStudio recommends that in most cases you install R from pre-compiled binaries.
This gives you the benefit of:
- Side-by-side installation of multiple versions of R
- It is quick, since the compilation step has previously been completed
To install from pre-compiled binaries, follow the instructions at Install R
Tip
Installing from pre-compiled binaries is the recommended option in most cases
Summary#
Recommendation#
Our suggested order for making a choice of R installation is:
-
Install from pre-compiled binaries
- to get multiple R versions side-by-side
-
Compile from source
- gives more flexibility but takes longer
-
Use
yum
orapt
- Does not allow side-by-side install
- Do not use for long-term data science stability
Your turn#
Next complete the exercise.
Signs of success
- R is running