[R] R for various ports of linux

[Jason Turner]

Nathan Leon Pace, MD, MStat wrote:

> To all:
> 
> I currently download the R binaries for Redhat 7.x Linux.
> 
> There is considerable turmoil in the vendors of Linux. Redhat apparently 
> is changing it's business model to paid versions.
> 
> This might motivate my department to use a different vendor of Linux.
> 
> Is there anything predictable about which vendors/versions of Linux will 
> have R binaries in the future?

Short answer: build from source.  You won't regret it.

Long answer:
The "build from source" approach is remarkably painless under any Linux 
distribution I've tried (RH, SuSE, Slackware, et. al.).  It's also 
painless under Solaris.

The days of having to be a programmer to build R from source have been 
over for years.  If you're computer literate enough to use R, you're 
probably over-qualified to build from sources.

Kudos to R-core for their attention to detail in making what's 
complicated "under the hood" quite simple for the end user.

Alternate answer:
If you absolutely must have binaries, there will be binaries as long as 
there are users of your OS with time they wish to commit to building 
them.  This may be where your sysadmin steps in :)

Cheers

Jason
-- 
Indigo Industrial Controls Ltd.
http://www.indigoindustrial.co.nz
64-21-343-545
jasont at indigoindustrial.co.nz