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HowToSetUpRonUbuntu14.04|DigitalOcean

By:DeanAttali

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HowToSetUpRonUbuntu14.04

Jul13,2015

ApplicationsUbuntu

Introduction
Risapopularopensourceprogramminglanguagethatspecializesinstatisticalcomputing
andgraphics.Itiswidelyusedbystatisticiansfordevelopingstatisticalsoftwareand
performingdataanalysis.OneofR'sstrengthsisthatitishighlyandeasilyextensibleby
allowinguserstoauthorandsubmittheirownpackages.TheRcommunityisknowntobe
veryactiveandisnotedforcontinuouslyaddinguser-generatedstatisticalpackagesfor
specificareasofstudy,whichmakesRapplicabletomanyfieldsofstudy.

The"ComprehensiveRArchiveNetwork"(CRAN)isacollectionofsites(calledmirrors)which
carryidenticalmaterial,consistingofmanyRpackagesandtheRdistributionsthemselves.
YoucandownloadRandmanyRpackagesfromanyoftheCRANmirrors,butwewillusethe
RStudiomirror.

Inthisguide,wewilllearnhowtosetupRonaDigitalOceanDropletrunningUbuntu14.04.If
yourDropletisrunningadifferentoperatingsystem,mostoftheinstructionswillstillapply,
butyoumayneedtomodifysomeofthecommands.Followingthisguidetocompletion
shouldtakeabout10-15minutes.

Prerequisites
Forthistutorial,youwillneed:

Ubuntu14.04Dropletwithatleast1GBofRAM.IfyourDroplethaslessthan1GBofRAM,
youneedtoadd1GBofswapspace(HowToAddSwaponUbuntu14.04givesyoustep-

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by-stepinstructionsforaddingswapspace.)

Anon-rootuserwithsudoprivileges(InitialServerSetupwithUbuntu14.04explainshow
tosetthisup.)

Allthecommandsinthistutorialshouldberunasanon-rootuser.Ifrootaccessisrequired
forthecommand,itwillbeprecededby

sudo .InitialServerSetupwithUbuntu14.04explains

howtoaddusersandgivethemsudoaccess.

Step1SettingUpAPT
ToinstallR,we'regoingtousetheAPT(AdvancedPackagingTool)tool.Itusesaspecialfile
thatliststhesourcesofwherepackagesshouldbedownloadedfrom.Thatfileis

/etc/apt/sources.list .InordertogetthemostrecentversionofR,weneedtoaddthe
correctrepositorytothelistofsourcesbyaddingalinetothesourcesfile.Theexactlineyou
needtoaddwillvarydependingontheexactUbuntuversion.ForUbuntu14.04,runthe
followingcommandtoaddthecorrectrepositoryto

/etc/apt/sources.list .

$ sudoshc'echo"debhttp://cran.rstudio.com/bin/linux/ubuntutrusty/">>/etc/apt/source

IfyouarerunningadifferentUbuntuversion,consultthisdocumentforthecorrectrepository
toadd.

ToauthenticatepackagesdownloadedusingAPT,wehavetoaddapublickey.TheUbuntu
archivesonCRANaresignedwithakeywithIDE084DAB9.Addthiskeytoyoursystem.

$ gpgkeyserverkeyserver.ubuntu.comrecvkeyE084DAB9

Nextweneedtoaddthekeyto

apt .

$ gpgaexportE084DAB9|sudoaptkeyadd

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Step2InstallingR
NowthatAPThasbeensetupproperly,wearereadytouseittoinstallR.

First,weneedtoupdatethelistofavailablepackagessinceweupdatedthesourceslist.

$ sudoaptgetupdate

NowwecaninstallR.Weusethe

y flagtoautomaticallyanswerYeswhenaskedifweare

surewewanttodownloadthepackage.

$ sudoaptgetyinstallrbase

Atthispoint,youshouldhaveaninstallationofthelatestRversiononyourDroplet.Youcan
testthisbyrunningthe

R command.

$ R

Youshouldseeoutputsimilartothefollowing.

Rversion3.2.1(20150618)"WorldFamousAstronaut"
Copyright(C)2015TheRFoundationforStatisticalComputing
Platform:x86_64pclinuxgnu(64bit)
RisfreesoftwareandcomeswithABSOLUTELYNOWARRANTY.
Youarewelcometoredistributeitundercertainconditions.
Type'license()'or'licence()'fordistributiondetails.
NaturallanguagesupportbutrunninginanEnglishlocale
Risacollaborativeprojectwithmanycontributors.
Type'contributors()'formoreinformationand
'citation()'onhowtociteRorRpackagesinpublications.

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Type'demo()'forsomedemos,'help()'foronlinehelp,or
'help.start()'foranHTMLbrowserinterfacetohelp.
Type'q()'toquitR.
>

YouarenowinsidetheRinteractiveshellandcanrunarbitraryRcommands.

QuitR,andreturntoyourDropletwiththe

q() function:

> q(save="no")

Step3InstallingRPackagesfromCRAN
NowthatRisinstalledonyourDroplet,anyuserontheDropletcanuseR.WhenRis
installed,itautomaticallyinstallsanumberofdefaultpackages,butinordertodoanything
trulymeaningfulinRyouwillprobablyneedtoinstallextrapackages.Itisimportanttohave
atleast1GBofRAMavailableinordertoinstallmanypackages,whichisthereasonthatthe
prerequisitessectioninstructedyoutoaddswapspaceifyourDroplethaslessthan1GBof
RAM.

Asmentionedpreviously,CRANhostsnotonlyRitself,butmanyRpackagesaswell.To
installnewRpackagesthatarehostedonCRAN,ortoupdateexistingones,youusethe

install.packages() functioninR.Ifyouwantedtoinstallpackagesomepackage,you
wouldopenRandrunthefollowingRcommand.

#Thisisanexample,donotrunthis
install.packages("somepackage")

However,anypackageinstalledbyaspecificuserinRwillonlybeavailabletothatuserby
default.Forexample,ifusersammyinstallssomepackage,thenuserjessiewillnotbeableto
usesomepackageuntiltheyinstallitaswell.

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ItispossibletoinstallanRpackageinawaythatmakesitavailabletoallusersonthe
Dropletbyinstallingitasroot.Asanexample,let'sinstallthe

shiny package,whichisavery

popularpackageusedtocreatewebapplicationsfromRcode.Onewaytoinstallthe
packageasrootwouldbetologinasroot,runR,andrunthe

install.packages()

command.However,it'srecommendednottologinasroot,soinsteadwecanjustruntheR
commandasroot.We'llalsospecifythe

repos parametersothatthepackageis

downloadedfromtheRStudioCRANrepository,thesameoneweusedwhendownloadingR
itself.

$ sudosuc"Re\"install.packages('shiny',repos='http://cran.rstudio.com/')\""

ByinstallingapackagethiswayratherthanopeningRandrunningthe
command,the

install.packages()

shiny packageismadeavailabletoallusersontheDroplet.

Let'sverifythat

shiny wasinstalledcorrectlybytryingtoloadit.StartanRsession.

$ R

InR,tryloadingthe

shiny package.

> library(shiny)

Runningthepreviouscommandshouldresultinnoerrors.NowquitR.

> q(save="no")

Step4Installing devtools Package

WhilemanyRpackagesarehostedonCRANandcanbeinstalledusingthebuilt-in

install.packages() function,therearemanymorepackagesthatarehostedonGitHub
butarenotonCRAN.ToinstallRpackagesfromGitHub,weneedtousethe

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devtools R
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package,solet'sinstallit.

The

devtools RpackagerequiresthreesystempackagestobeinstalledontheDroplet,

namely

libcurl4gnutlsdev , libxml2dev ,and libssldevc .Installthesethree

packages:

$ sudoaptgetyinstalllibcurl4gnutlsdevlibxml2devlibssldev

Nowthe

devtools Rpackagecanbeinstalled.Rememberthatwewanttoinstallitusingthe

samemethodasdescribedabove,ratherthaninstallitwithinanRsession,because

devtools shouldbeavailabletoallusers.

$ sudosuc"Re\"install.packages('devtools',repos='http://cran.rstudio.com/')\""

Theabovecommandtoinstall

devtools couldtakeseveralminutestocomplete.

Step5InstallingRPackagesfromGitHub
Nowthatwehave
the

devtools installed,wecaninstallanyRpackagethatisonGitHubusing

install_github() function.JustlikewithCRANpackages,wheninstallingGitHub

packagesyouneedtorunthecommandfromthesystemshelltomakethepackage
availabletoallusers.Let'stryinstallingthe
functionalitytothe
anditsname(

shinyjs GitHubpackage,whichadds

shiny package.AGitHubpackageisdefinedbyitsauthor( daattali )

shinyjs ).

$ sudosuc"Re\"devtools::install_github('daattali/shinyjs')\""

Let'sverifythat

shinyjs wasinstalledcorrectlybytryingtoloadit.StartanRsession.

$ R

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InR,tryloadingthe

shinyjs package.

> library(shinyjs)

Runningthepreviouscommandcouldresultinsomemessages,butnoerrormessages.Now
quitR.

> q(save="no")

NextSteps
YounowhaveaworkingRinstallationonyourDroplet.

TolearnmoreaboutR,visittheofficialRwebsite,ortrylearningRhands-onandinteractively
withthe

swirl package.

FormoreinformationonCRANandwhatitoffers,visittheofficialCRANwebsite.

ForabetterexperiencewritingRcodeonyourDroplet,youmaywanttoinstallanRStudio
Serverusingthistutorial.

IfyouwanttohostanyofyourShinycodeonyourDroplet,youmaywanttoinstallaShiny
Serverusingthistutorial.

Conclusion
Inthisguide,wewentthroughthestepsrequiredtosetupRonanUbuntu14.04Droplet.We
alsolearnedthedifferencebetweeninstallingRpackagesfromGitHubvsCRANandhowto
ensurethatthesepackagesaremadeavailableforallusersontheDroplet.

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6Comments

Leaveacomment...

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Comment

chrisfs59 August8,2015

Thanksabunchforthis!Quiteuseful

daattali August8,2015

Gladtoknowifhelps,thanksfortakingthetimetosaythat:)

drexlar October11,2015

CongratulationsDean.Excellenttutorial.IfollowedyourtutorialtotheletterandIcouldinstallR
andthepackagesyoumentionedinmyUbuntu14.04.3.Thankyouforsharingthiswiththe
community.

diegodiazespino January22,2016

Another"Easywaytoinstall*onUbuntu*"byDigitalOcean.Thanks,yousaveourtime

saileswari January24,2016

AfterInstallingR,itriedtoinstalledbelowstatement.

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$sudoapt-get-yinstalllibcurl4-gnutls-devlibxml2-devlibssl-dev
Itdisplaysthebelowerror.
"
Readingpackagelists...Done
Buildingdependencytree

Readingstateinformation...Done
E:Unabletolocatepackagelibcur14-gnutls-dev"

whatshouldIdo?

daattali January24,2016

Firstofall,installingthesetoolsisnot100%mandatory.Youonlyneedthemifyouwanttouse
the

devtools package(which,inturn,youonlyneedtoinstallifyouwanttoinstallGitHub

packages).

Inregardstoyourerror,areyousureyoufollowedallthepreviousstepsexactly?Specifically,
areyouonUbuntu14.04,anddidyourunthesecommands:

sudoshc'echo"debhttp://cran.rstudio.com/bin/linux/ubuntutrusty/">>/etc/apt/sou
gpgkeyserverkeyserver.ubuntu.comrecvkeyE084DAB9
gpgaexportE084DAB9|sudoaptkeyadd
sudoaptgetupdate
sudoaptgetyinstalllibcurl4gnutlsdevlibxml2devlibssldev

Ifyouranthesecommandsandyou'reusingtherightOS,Idon'tseewhyitwouldn'tfindit.Try
creatingabrandnewdropletandfollowingtheseinstructionsagain,perhapstherewasaweird
problemwithyourdroplet.

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