[R-SIG-Mac] Fully contained R.app

[stefano iacus]

This is a very nice entry to the faq. Thanks Simon.

btw, wouldn't it be possible to create a small app (with an embedded  
script) to do this?
Which possibly makes a copy of R.app, so if you discover you need a  
additional package, you  install it in the original R.app and repackage.

stefano
p.s. I'm not volunteering though :)



On 08/mar/08, at 20:37, Simon Urbanek wrote:

> Following the point brought up by Vince Carey, I thought I'll share
> some info how you can create a version of R that is fully contained in
> the R.app bundle. i.e. all you have is just the "R" icon that can be
> moved/copied anywhere.
>
> Prerequisities:
> - Mac OS X 10.4 or higher
> - Xcode developer tools installed (see R for Mac FAQ)
> - somewhat recent, working R.app + R framework (e.g. from CRAN) in
> default locations
>
> For simplicity I assume that you'll be assembling the R on your
> Desktop and you are using regular CRAN binary, but you can do that
> anywhere with any R.
>
> copy/paste in Terminal (I hope your mailer doesn't wrap this):
>
> cd ~/Desktop
> # copy R.app
> ditto /Applications/R.app R.app
> cd R.app/Contents
> # copy the R.framework inside
> mkdir Frameworks
> ditto /Library/Frameworks/R.framework R.framework
>
> # fix all executables and libraries
> for f in `find . \( -perm +a+x -a -type f \)`; do
> if otool -L $f 2>/dev/null|grep Versions/.../Resources/lib >/dev/null
> 2>&1; then
> libs=`otool -L $f 2>/dev/null|sed -n 's:.*\(/Library/Frameworks/
> R.framework/Versions.*\) (.*:\1:p'`
> for lib in $libs; do
> nlib=`echo $lib|sed 's:/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/
> Versions/...:@executable_path/../Frameworks/R.framework:'`
> echo $f:$lib
> install_name_tool -change $lib $nlib $f
> done
> fi
> done
>
> Now you have a fully working R.app on your desktop that you can copy
> anywhere and it is self-contained. All paths are relative to the
> executable, hence relative to R.app.
>
> [Note: in order to test the fact that it is relocatable, you have to
> move/rename/delete /Library/Frameworks/R.framework first, otherwise
> rogue packages might fall back to that]
>
> CAVEAT: There is a caveat, though: you *cannot* install any packages
> with such R. Installing source package is a no-no (they won't compile)
> and installing binary packages will only work if you fix them before
> use (i.e. cd into R.app/Contents and re-run the script above starting
> with "for f...")
> [Another caveat is that the command-line version of such R won't work,
> but that is expected, because the R start script contains hard-coded
> R_HOME path, so you'd have to fix that whenever you move R.app.]
>
> Therefore you should install all necessary packages (in the system-
> wide location) *before* you package it.
>
> This is indented for those who wish to carry R with them on a USB
> stick temporarily and/or give a specifically setup version of R to
> others (class/workshop ...). It is not intended for "regular" use and
> is not officially supported. Use at your own risk ;).
>
> Hint: to create a compressed disk image of this R such that you can
> use it without installing, run
> cd ~/Desktop
> mkdir R
> mv R.app R
> hdiutil create -srcfolder R R.dmg
>
> Cheers,
> Simon
>
> For advanced users: you can also use install_name_tool -id to change
> the IDs of libraries in $R_HOME/lib. If you do that to your system R,
> all compiled packages will be correctly linked so you don't need the
> fixup anymore.
>
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