[R] running previous versions of R

[Marc Schwartz]

On Jul 15, 2011, at 1:06 PM, jstevens wrote:

> I'm having problems trying to get an older version of R (2.9.2) running in a
> Linux terminal. I have both R 2.9.2 and 2.12 installed and typing 'R' into
> the terminal results in version 2.12 running. I am trying to use a program
> that requires version 2.4 or greater, but will not run on version 2.10 or
> higher.
> 
> Anyone have an idea of what to do?
> 
> Thanks!


How did you install R? Did you build from source or use pre-compiled binaries (eg. RPMs or .debs)? Which Linux distribution are you running?

If in fact, you have two versions of R installed, the likelihood is that the 2.12.??? binary is in your $PATH and 2.9.2 is not or is after the former. Hence, the newer version will be found and run. Typically, there is a symlink to the R executable placed in a common location such as /usr/bin or perhaps /usr/local/bin, which is in the default $PATH so that R can be run easily.

This may be as simple as knowing where the 2.9.2 installation is located on your HD and running PATH.TO.THE.R.EXECUTABLE/R from the command line.

Are you running a CRAN package that has not been updated for more recent versions of R, or are you replicating an analysis that was done some time ago and have to use the same versions? If the former, be sure to contact the package maintainer to request that it be fixed, if they have not already orphaned it.

Cheers,

Marc Schwartz