Installed packages:
r-base
→ Core R environment (interpreter, standard libraries, docs).r-base-dev
→ Development tools to build and compile R packages from source. Includes compilers, headers, and common build dependencies.
Repository maintained by Michael Rutter.
Starting R
Start an interactive session:
R
Exit with:
q()
Important Files & Directories
- Binaries:
/usr/bin/R
- Core libraries:
/usr/lib/R
- User site-library (packages):
/usr/local/lib/R/site-library
- Configurations:
/etc/R
(system-wide configs likeRprofile.site
,Renviron
)
Installing Packages
From Ubuntu repositories (system-wide):
sudo apt install r-cran-ggplot2
From R console (latest from CRAN):
install.packages("ggplot2")
Verification
Check installed version:
R --version
List installed packages in R:
installed.packages()
Use a Dedicated Non-Root User (Recommended)
For better security and to prevent accidental system changes, you should create and use a non-root user for development.
Run the following commands to create a new user (e.g., user
) and set their password (replace user
with your preferred username):
useradd -m -s /bin/bash user
passwd user
(Optional) Add user to sudo group:
usermod -aG sudo user
Switch to the new user:
su - user