[R] installation of R on Linux

[Daniel Nordlund]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Prof Brian Ripley [mailto:ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk]
> Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 11:49 PM
> To: Daniel Nordlund
> Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [R] installation of R on Linux
> 
> On Fri, 27 Jan 2006, Daniel Nordlund wrote:
> 
> > R-users,
> >
> > I am new user of Linux (have been using Win XP Pro) and wanted to
> > install R.  Since I am just beginning to learn Linux I was wondering,
> > where in the directory structure do users of Linux usually install R?
> > Most of the instructions I have read simply say to untar the tarball
> > where you want to install the program.  Any suggestions would be welcome
> > as to an appropriate place.  I know I could get an rpm, but wanted to
> > use this as a learning process for a variety of skills.  Currently
> > working with SuSE 9.1
> 
> There is a definitive set of instructions, in the file INSTALL in
> the tarball and at
> 
> https://svn.r-project.org/R/trunk/INSTALL
> 
> Unpacking and installing are separate operations.  There is more
> information in the R-admin manual (which you already have in a Windows
> version of R, and is also in the tarball).
> 
> What most of us do is to untar in any convenient place (I use ~/R), use
> configure, make, and then use 'make install' to >install< R.  This
> installs in /usr/local in the conventional subdirectories (and
> conventionally needs su to access).  Having installed, you can wipe out
> the unpacked version of the tarball.
> 
> So, in my example
> 
> cd ~/R
> tar zxf R-2.2.1.tar.gz
> cd R-2.2.1
> configure
> make
> make info pdf
> su
> make install install-info install-pdf
> [leave su shell]
> cd ..
> rm -rf R-2.2.1
> 
> Rehash and start R.
> 
> --
> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
> Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
> University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
> 1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595

Prof. Ripley,

Thanks for the example and the pointers to various locations for documentation.  As a new user of Linux (with minimal experience in using Unix-like systems), I am somewhat uncomfortable putting programs just anywhere since there seem to be default locations for where many system programs reside.  Your concrete example is very helpful.

Thanks again,

Daniel Nordlund
Bothell, WA  USA