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Install new R version on worker machines

Owned by Kimyen Truong (Unlicensed)
Last updated: May 15, 2018
1 min read

The problem

We committed to build the R client for 2 latest R <major>.<minor> version. However the latest R release version (3.5) is inconsistent across platform:

  • On Ubuntu, the instruction to install the latest R version gives users R version 3.4.4. This is because the people who manages the artifacts for Ubuntu have not update their artifacts to R 3.5. 
  • On Mac, installing R version 3.5 corrupted R version 3.4. Re-installing R version 3.4 removed R version 3.5.

Also, CRAN notes that: "CRAN does not have Mac OS X systems and cannot check these binaries for viruses." 

Proposal

The proposal to solve the problem above is to install from source for all 3 platforms: Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Ubuntu Instructions

  • Get the R source from https://cran.r-project.org/ under "R source" link on the left panel.

    Download R source on Ubuntu
    wget https://cran.r-project.org/src/base/R-3/R-3.5.0.tar.gz

  • Unpack the zip file:

    Unzip
    tar -xf R-3.5.0.tar.gz

  • Compile the source code:

    Compile
    ./configure
make

  • Then check the built system works correctly by

    check
    make check

  • Then install

    install
    sudo make install rhome=/usr/local/R/R-3.5.0

  • Make link for R <major>.<minor> 

    make link
    sudo ln -s R-3.5.0 R-3.5

  • Update the alternatives for R:

    update alternatives
    sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/local/bin/R R /usr/local/R/R-3.5/bin/R 50 --slave /usr/local/bin/Rscript Rscript /usr/local/R/R-3.5/bin/Rscript
sudo update-alternatives --set R /usr/local/R/R-3.5/bin/R

# to view all alternatives
update-alternatives --config R

# to fix broken links
yes '' | sudo update-alternatives --force --all

Mac Instructions


Windows Instructions