[R-sig-teaching] installing Rcmdr

[John Fox]

Dear Ista,

I've updated the Rcmdr installation notes at
<http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox/Misc/Rcmdr/installation-notes.html> with
specific instructions for Ubuntu.

Thanks,
 John

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ista Zahn [mailto:istazahn at gmail.com]
> Sent: February-15-09 11:03 AM
> To: John Fox
> Cc: G. Jay Kerns; bob at statland.org; R-sig-teaching
> Subject: Re: [R-sig-teaching] installing Rcmdr
> 
> Hi John,
> Yes, please feel free to use my suggestions in any way you wish, with
> any modifications you want. The procedure is designed to be sufficient
> rather than necessary, and you are correct that some of the steps can
> be omitted.
> 
> -Ista
> On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 10:01 AM, John Fox <jfox at mcmaster.ca> wrote:
> > Dear Jay, Bob, Ista,
> >
> > I, too, have installed Rcmdr on Ubuntu systems several times with no
> > problems. I suspect that r-base-dev wasn't installed and that Ista's
> > procedure will produce the desired result.
> >
> > Ista: Do you mind if I add your procedure, slightly edited and with
credit,
> > to the Rcmdr installation page? Step 6, however, shouldn't be necessary
> > after installing with dep=TRUE, nor, I think, should step 3, since
there's
> > only R code in the Rcmdr package.
> >
> > Regards,
> >  John
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: r-sig-teaching-bounces at r-project.org
> > [mailto:r-sig-teaching-bounces at r-
> >> project.org] On Behalf Of Ista Zahn
> >> Sent: February-14-09 11:12 PM
> >> To: bob at statland.org
> >> Cc: R-sig-teaching
> >> Subject: Re: [R-sig-teaching] installing Rcmdr
> >>
> >> I've found the version of R in the Ubuntu repository is almost always
> >> out of date. Here is the process I follow:
> >>
> >> 1) Add the R repository (see
http://cran.r-project.org/bin/linux/ubuntu/).
> >> 2) Install R and the dev package: sudo apt-get install r-base
r-base-dev
> >> 3) Install any packages needed to build a particular package. In this
> >> case something like sudo apt-get build-dep r-cran-rcmdr (I'm not on my
> >> ubuntu machine at the moment so I'm not sure the package name is
> >> correct).
> >> 4) Start R from the command line as root so I can install packages
> >> system-wide: sudo R
> >> 5) From the R command prompt, install Rcmdr: >
> >> install.packages("Rcmdr", dep=TRUE)
> >> 6) Start Rcmdr and install additional packages when prompted.
> >>
> >> I've never had this procedure fail to produce a working installation.
> >>
> >> Hope it helps,
> >> Ista
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: r-sig-teaching-bounces at r-project.org
> > [mailto:r-sig-teaching-bounces at r-
> >> project.org] On Behalf Of G. Jay Kerns
> >> Sent: February-14-09 9:55 PM
> >> To: bob at statland.org
> >> Cc: R-sig-teaching
> >> Subject: Re: [R-sig-teaching] installing Rcmdr
> >>
> >> Dear Robert,
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 9:24 PM, Robert W. Hayden <hayden at mv.mv.com>
> > wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Last weekend I visited my sister and her husband and installed R on
> >> > their Ubuntu 8.04 machine and tried to add Rcmdr.  I had endless
> >> > trouble most of which seemed to be because R (or Rcmdr) seemed to
want
> >> > a Fortran compiler (or a Fortran-to-C translator).  A smaller number
> >> > of error mesages (out of many pages thereof) were removed by
> >> > installing what appeared to be a library of Fortran linear algebra
> >> > routines (lblas?).  Even then Rcmdr complained about missing packages
> >> > when I ran it, and though it offered to install them, the
installation
> >> > failed in every case, with no useful error messages.
> >> >
> >> > I have installed R and Rcmdr many times before to Windows and various
> >> > Linux distributions (it's on this Debian right now)  and never had so
> >> > much trouble.  Did I do something wrong?  Is there a problem with R
on
> >> > Ubuntu?  I have programmed in Fortran so I don't mind adding a
> >> > compiler and I've taught linear algebra so I don't mind adding linear
> >> > algebra routines, but there is no way my students would ever figure
> >> > out that was needed.  I also noted that Rcmdr had a MUCH longer list
> >> > of dependencies than I remember.  All of this has me worried about
> >> > using R in an introductory course for folks who are not computer
> >> > science majors.
> >> >
> >> > Has anyone encountered a similar problem?  I used whatever version of
> >> > R is in the Ubuntu repository.  I seem to remember 2.4 though that
> >> > seems a bit old.
> >> >
> >> > ------->  First-time AP Stats. teacher?  Help is on the way! See
> >> >
> >> >
> >
http://courses.ncssm.edu/math/Stat_Inst/Stats2007/Bob%20Hayden/Relief.html
> >> >
> >> >  Robert W. Hayden in the old library at  212 Main Street (P. O. Box
450)
> >> >  North Troy, VT 05859  phone (802) 988-2587  web site
> > http://statland.org/
> >> >  email  bob statland.org  (add your own "@" and save me some spam)
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > R-sig-teaching at r-project.org mailing list
> >> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-teaching
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> I am and have been using Rcmdr on Ubuntu 7.10, 8.04, and currently on
> >> 8.10.  I used 32 bit Ubuntu for 7.10 and 8.04, but on 8.10 I am using
> >> both 32 and 64 bit versions. For the record, I have had no problems
> >> whatsoever installing Rcmdr.
> >>
> >> First thought (and you didn't mention): are you sure that you have the
> >> r-base-dev Ubuntu package installed?  If you do not have that
> >> installed, then you won't be able to build _anything_.
> >>
> >> If you already have r-base-dev....? it is good practice to install the
> >> packages from the repository with Synaptic (which it sounds like is
> >> what you did), since in those cases, dependencies are marked
> >> automatically for installation most of the time.    Another thing that
> >> you could try is to right-click on packages in Synaptic - it gives
> >> other packages "suggested" for installation.  In some cases,
> >> installing these extra packages helped me with installation problems
> >> elsewhere, too.
> >>
> >> And you could consider contacting John Fox directly.  He's great about
> >> responding quickly, thoughtfully, and accurately.
> >>
> >> Good luck.
> >> Jay
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ***************************************************
> >> G. Jay Kerns, Ph.D.
> >> Associate Professor
> >> Department of Mathematics & Statistics
> >> Youngstown State University
> >> Youngstown, OH 44555-0002 USA
> >> Office: 1035 Cushwa Hall
> >> Phone: (330) 941-3310 Office (voice mail)
> >> -3302 Department
> >> -3170 FAX
> >> E-mail: gkerns at ysu.edu
> >> http://www.cc.ysu.edu/~gjkerns/
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> R-sig-teaching at r-project.org mailing list
> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-teaching
> >
> >
> >