[R] Is R portable?

[Gabor Csardi]

Yes, it is indeed true for other systems as well, although
some configuration problems might arise, at least on Linux. 

It is also true that there are several small Linux distributions 
which easily fit into a flash drive, and then you can boot from the 
flash drive. I used to use SLAX, this is module based, ie. you can
choose which packages to install into the flash drive, and it has an R
package, although R version 2.2, so it is outdated. But i'm sure
there are more options, eg. Damn Small Linux is popular, i believe it
is desktop oriented, so might not contain R by default.

I used to install my whole Linux system into a small (ie. notebook)
USB harddisk, this is very comfortable, you just boot from the
harddisk and wehereever you are you get the same system (assuming you
can find a PC, but usually this is not a problem). It was a bit
slower, but much more comfortable than bringing a notebook with me
all the time. Until i accidentally kicked down the harddisk from the
desk...

Gabor

On Tue, Dec 04, 2007 at 08:46:29AM -0800, Bert Gunter wrote:
> On Windows anyway, R can be located in any directory including one on a
> flash drive). R can also be set up to make no use of the registry (again --
> Windows only), so AFAICS the answer is yes, and it's trivial to do. I would
> be surprised if this were not true in other OS's, too. R is just an
> executable with supporting libraries that can be located and run from
> anywhere. Of course, various configuration details (file locations, language
> environment, graphics options,...) must be set to agree with the particular
> computer hardware and software on which the flash drive runs, but that is
> inevitable (if R was told it should use a cyrillic character set for
> Russian, it won't automatically switch to French when the flash drive is
> stuck into a French computer).
> 
> If I am wrong about any of this, **PLEASE CORRECT**
> 
> Bert Gunter
> Genentech Nonclinical Statistics
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On
> Behalf Of Tom Backer Johnsen
> Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 8:03 AM
> To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: [R] Is R portable?
> 
> Recently I came across an interesting web site: 
> http://portableapps.com/.  The idea is simple, this is software that 
> is possible to install and run on some type of USB memory, a stick or 
> one of these hard disks.  I can think of a number of situations where 
> this could be handy.  In addition memory sticks are getting cheaper 
> and more powerful by the day.
> 
> So:  Is it possible to run R off one of these sticks?
> 
> I am also informed that it is possible to run Latex in this manner.
> 
> Tom
> 
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-- 
Csardi Gabor <csardi at rmki.kfki.hu>    MTA RMKI, ELTE TTK