Message-ID: <40e66e0b0902101452s69605de7r74607ef1f4256f48@mail.gmail.com>
Date: 2009-02-10T22:52:58Z
From: Douglas Bates
Subject: installing R on Ubuntu
In-Reply-To: <498F3450.8000706@psych.uib.no>
On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 1:36 PM, Tom Backer Johnsen <backer at psych.uib.no> wrote:
> Dear me. Is the installation of R under Ubuntu really that complex? I have
> a dual boot machine (Linux / Windows, where I use the latter the most) and
> have plans to try R under Linux, but have not done so yet. Is it possible
> to simplify the Linux install procedure to make R more accessible to
> novices?
>
> Compare that to Windows. (1) Download installation program (2) Run
> installation program. That is it.
[other messages trimmed]
I know that Dirk has already responded to you about
sudo apt-get install r-base
etc.
so you are already set up. However, I couldn't resist pointing out
that you describe installing the Windows binary package for running R
and installing precompiled packages. If you should decide to build a
package under Windows it ain't that simple. It is much, much simpler
than it was in the past but it still involves a lot more than
sudo apt-get install r-base-dev
Windows and Linux are tuned to different types of users. Linux users
love to be able to tinker (which is why my wife requires me to sit
quietly and *not touch anything* whenever I visit her in her lab -
there are stories of hours spent recalibrating instruments after I was
left alone for just a few minutes). A full development environment
installed with a minimum of fuss is expected by Linux users. Things
are different under Windows.