RServe loads R environment before chroot

[rfaelens]

I am trying to create a self-contained RServe in a chroot jail.
This works perfectly. However, the initial startup of RServe binds to the current /usr/lib64/R/ installation, even if the chroot environment contains another R installation.

This poses problems if the chroot environment has a different R version from the system R version.

RServe should scan the configuration file and execute any chroot before loading any other functions/libraries.

[s-u]

Sorry, I'm not quite sure I understand the issue - you are setting the environment before Rserve is started (typically using R CMD) - it merely uses the R home defined by the environment. Normally, the way chrooted Rserve is used to have the corresponding R setup in the chroot which is typically a subset of the system R. Rserve doesn't "bind" anything itself, it's being linked against whatever R is available - and that happens before it's even run, so it has no control over that. If you want to have an entirely different R setup in your chroot jail, then you have to first chroot into the jail and then start Rserve - there is nothing Rserve itself can do to make that happen itself since it's linked to whatever R you start it with.

[rfaelens]

Thanks for the comment.

Indeed the right approach is to use LD_PRELOAD or other ld "tricks" to make sure RServe binds with the right R dll when run in a chroot environment. RServe links to whatever R the dynamic loader picks out, which is typically the system R.

You can close this as a "won't fix", we will try to make it work by either using LD_PRELOAD or by writing a wrapper to chroot first.

[s-u]

LD_PRELOAD doesn't sound quite right. R controls the locations that will be loaded using via R_HOME_DIR in the initial script and then $R_HOME_DIR/etc/ldpaths for the location of libraries, so I would rather make sure those are setup correctly instead.