multiple versions

Can anyone suggest a good way to handle multiple versions of R
and also other tools like gcc and perl (in Unix). I have been
using soft links from my personal bin to the version I want to
use, but this has some drawbacks. With this scheme it is
difficult to run different versions of R in different windows,
and use of gcc appears to be complicated in several respects when
I try to change among versions.

Thanks,
Paul Gilbert

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
(in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

In my previous working place, I used the to have a directory containing
several distributions of R (say '~/share/packages/allR/').

For each fo them, I set were it should be at configure time (setting the
--prefix switch for configure. Example: './configure --prefix
~/share/packages/allR/R-1.2.3.4' (note: I have a vague recollection of
trouble with the expansion of the '~' so you may want to write the
complete path.).

Once that was done I (soft) linked the respective 'R' in the respective
'lib/R/bin/' to a relevant name in a place in my PATH (in my case it was
'~/share/bin/').

To specify wich c compiler you want to use, you can edit the file
'config.site'. (for perl I do not know but it must be somewhere.. or at
worse you can look into configure.in).


I do not remember of trouble while opening different R sessions at the
same time (except that the .R* files can be version incompatible and
shared by different R sessions ? It's probably a good idea to start each
seesion from a different directory).



Hopin' it helps,




Laurent

Laurent Gautier			CBS, Building 208, DTU
PhD. Student			D-2800 Lyngby,Denmark	
tel: +45 45 25 24 85		http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/laurent
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
(in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._