R-build

R-build is an Renv plugin that provides an Renv install command to compile and install different versions of R on UNIX-like systems.

You can also use R-build without Renv in environments where you need precise control over R version installation.

Installation

Installing as an Renv plugin (recommended)

Installing R-build as an Renv plugin will give you access to the Renv install command.

$ mkdir -p ~/.Renv/plugins
$ cd ~/.Renv/plugins
$ git clone git://github.com/viking/R-build.git

This will install the latest development version of R-build into the ~/.Renv/plugins/R-build directory. From that directory, you can check out a specific release tag. To update R-build, run git pull to download the latest changes.

Installing as a standalone program (advanced)

Installing R-build as a standalone program will give you access to the R-build command for precise control over R version installation. If you have Renv installed, you will also be able to use the Renv install command.

$ git clone git://github.com/viking/R-build.git
$ cd R-build
$ ./install.sh

This will install R-build into /usr/local. If you do not have write permission to /usr/local, you will need to run sudo ./install.sh instead. You can install to a different prefix by setting the PREFIX environment variable.

To update R-build after it has been installed, run git pull in your cloned copy of the repository, then re-run the install script.

Usage

Using Renv install with Renv

To install a R version for use with Renv, run Renv install with the exact name of the version you want to install. For example,

$ Renv install 2.15.2

installs R version 2.15.2 to ~/.Renv/versions/2.15.2. Provide an additional argument to install to a directory with a name that differs from the version number. For example,

$ Renv install 2.15.2 my-proj

installs R version 2.15.2 to ~/.Renv/versions/my-proj.

To see a list of all available R versions, run Renv install without any arguments. You may also tab-complete available R versions if your Renv installation is properly configured.

Using R-build standalone

If you have installed R-build as a standalone program, you can use the R-build command to compile and install R versions into specific locations.

Run the R-build command with the exact name of the version you want to install and the full path where you want to install it. For example,

$ R-build 2.15.2 ~/local/R-2.15.2

To see a list of all available R versions, run R-build --definitions.

Pass the -v or --verbose flag to R-build as the first argument to see what's happening under the hood.

Custom definitions

Both Renv install and R-build accept a path to a custom definition file in place of a version name. Custom definitions let you develop and install versions of R that are not yet supported by R-build.

See the R-build built-in definitions as a starting point for custom definition files.

Special environment variables

You can set certain environment variables to control the build process.

• TMPDIR sets the location where R-build stores temporary files.
• R_BUILD_BUILD_PATH sets the location in which sources are downloaded and built. By default, this is a subdirectory of TMPDIR.
• CC sets the path to the C compiler.
• CONFIGURE_OPTS lets you pass additional options to ./configure.
• MAKE_OPTS (or MAKEOPTS) lets you pass additional options to make.

Keeping the build directory after installation

Both R-build and Renv install accept the -k or --keep flag, which tells R-build to keep the downloaded source after installation. This can be useful if you need to use gdb and memprof with R.

Source code will be kept in a parallel directory tree ~/.Renv/sources when using --keep with the Renv install command. You should specify the location of the source code with the R_BUILD_BUILD_PATH environment variable when using --keep with R-build.

Getting Help

Open an issue on the issue tracker. Be sure to include the full build log for build failures.

Version History

R-build is a forked version of ruby-build.

20121102

• Add definition for R-2.15.2
• Fix merging errors

20121003

• Add definition for R-2.15.1

20120405

• Add definition for R-2.15.0

20120302

• Add definition for R-2.14.2

20120106

• Began fork from R-build
• Added definitions for the R-2 series

License

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2011 Sam Stephenson

Copyright (c) 2012 Vanderbilt University

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.