[BioC] writing of /usr/lib/R

[lgautier@altern.org]

> Hi folks,
>
> Thank you all for your cool ideas! And I'll make sure I send questions
> like this to the proper list next time.
>
> Actually I've discovered the R_LIBS env var in the FAQ, 5 minutes
> after I hit the Send button ;-)
>
> Also, it's worth to note that we have luxury here of running
> distributed SAN-attached file system accessible by all the nodes of
> the cluster. It's General Parallel File System (GPFS) from IBM. So I
> was thinking why not utilize that? I can copy /usr/lib/R to GPFS and
> then symlink from all the nodes to it. That will also serve the
> purpose of having all the nodes work against exactly the same
> /usr/lib/R.
>
> On the other hand I'm cautious about making /usr/lib/R shared because
> of the race condition it can cause. Because what will happen  if, for
> example, these two users are running different R scripts on two
> different nodes of the cluster and their R processes both try to
> install/upgrade packages in the shared directory? Won't they clash?

There is a lock file during package install/removal, if I remember
correctly. Otherwise the last one to install/remove wins, I believe...

> I have presently only 2 users (power users I must admit) using R and
> their number is not expected to grow between two and maybe several
> more.
>
> --
> Warm regards,
> Michael Green
>
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