[R-SIG-Mac] multiple R versions in a multi-user environment

[Jan de Leeuw]

Since you do not use R.app I think you would be better off not to use  
the Framework with the Current
soft link, install different R's in /usr/local or similar, use  
appropriate prefixes in configure, and (minimally)
hack the  startup scripts. Updating packages from source, or R's from  
svn, will not be a problem then.
Since it's the same machine throughout, you don't need universal  
builds either.

On Aug 27, 2009, at 11:13 , Bill Knebel wrote:

> We run R in a multiuser environment (Mac OSx Leopard Server  
> utilizing R+ESS over an ssh connection) that requires us to keep  
> multiple versions of R (R-2.7.2 and higher) available on the same  
> machine.   I have successfully installed multiple R versions using  
> the binaries for Mac OSX  and deleting the relevant Receipt before  
> installing the newer version of R.  My problem occurs when allowing  
> individuals to run different versions of R. I would like to be able  
> to allow users to run any verison that is currently installed.  The  
> Rswitch gui works nicely if I want to make a global switch (for all  
> individuals) from one version of R to another.  The Mac OSx FAQ  
> recommends not to hardcode the shell scripts to start R to a  
> specific version (FAQ 12.15). Am I better off building R from source  
> for each version we need and bypassing the Frameworks approach for R  
> used by the binaries or is the a "safe" approach to use the binaries  
> and utilize hardcoded shell scripts to point to a given version of  
> R?  (I have created some shell scripts (hacked from those provided)  
> that allows me to start either R-2.6.1 or R-2.7.2 but the Mac OSX R  
> FAQ recommends against this approach.) If there is somewhere else I  
> should be reading, I would appreciate a pointer and I would be happy  
> to review.
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> Bill
>
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===
Jan de Leeuw; Distinguished Professor and Chair, UCLA Department of  
Statistics;
Director: UCLA Center for Environmental Statistics (CES);
Editor: Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Journal of Statistical  
Software;
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