[R] Installing different versions of R simultaneously on Linux

[Prof Brian Ripley]

This is really an R-devel question.

On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, Rainer M Krug wrote:

> Hi
>
> I want to install some versions of R simultaneously from source on a
> computer (running Linux). Some programs have an option to specify a
> suffix for the executable (eg R would become R-2.7.2 when the suffix
> is specified as "-2.7.2"). I did not find this option for R - did I
> overlook it?
>
> If it is not, how is it possible to have several versions of R on one
> computer, or is the only way to compile them and then call R in the
> directory of the version where it was compiled (~/R-2.7.2/bin/R)?
>
> If this is the case, would it be possible to add this o[ptiuon to
> specify the suffix for the executables?

'R' is not an executable, but a shell script.

You can use 'prefix' to install R anywhere, or other variables for 
more precise control (see the R-admin manual).  For example, we use 
rhome to have R 2.8.x under /usr/local/lib64/R-2.8 etc.

And you can rename $prefix/bin/R to, say, R-2.7.2, or link 
R_HOME/bin/R to anywhere in yout path, under any name you choose.

>
> Thanks
>
> Rainer
> -- 
> Rainer M. Krug, PhD (Conservation Ecology, SUN), MSc (Conservation
> Biology, UCT), Dipl. Phys. (Germany)
>
> Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology
> Faculty of Science
> Natural Sciences Building
> Private Bag X1
> University of Stellenbosch
> Matieland 7602
> South Africa

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595