Installation

This chapter provides the minimum amount of steps required to install the RStudio Package Manager (RSPM).

If needed, additional information regarding each step is available in subsequent chapters. Although this guide provides the steps necessary to install RSPM, your environment may require one or more additional steps.

RStudio Support

RStudio is happy to provide support for anyone using our product. However, we do not provide support for:

  • Installation
  • Professional services

We don't provide support for these items because our top priority is to focus on building the best products for our users. We understand that you may require additional assistance. If you require such assistance, then please refer to our certified partners.

RStudio's support is limited to our professional products. If your question is related to R, R code, or specific R packages, then visit the RStudio Community.

If your question is related to RSPM, then open a support ticket by doing one of the following:

Note

If you have not been able to download the software, then skip to Step 2.

  1. Run the command: /opt/rstudio-pm/bin/run-diagnostics
  2. If you unpacked the software in a non-default location, then navigate to the directory and run ./bin/run-diagnostics
  3. If the cause of the problem is not evident to you, then send RStudio an email to support@rstudio.com including:
    • Your name and company
    • Your goal
    • What you have tried (please be as detailed as possible)
    • The current error (screenshots are helpful)
    • The diagnostics output from Step 1

Note

RStudio's goal is to assist you in the most efficient way possible. The more information that you provide in the email will help ensure that we support you in the best and most efficient way possible.

For additional information, see RStudio's Support Agreement.

Prerequisites

Before installing RSPM, review the necessary system requirements, account privileges, and internet access requirements.

System Requirements

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS Linux 6.0+
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS Linux 7.0+
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS Linux 8.0+
  • SUSE Enterprise Linux 12 SP3+
  • SUSE Enterprise Linux 15
  • openSUSE Leap 42.3
  • openSUSE Leap 15.0
  • Ubuntu 16.04
  • Ubuntu 18.04
  • Ubuntu 20.04

Additional Information

It is recommended that you run RSPM on a server with a minimum of:

  • 2 GB of RAM
  • 100+ GB of disk storage

Note

RSPM may require more than 2 GB of RAM, depending upon configuration and usage.

Internet Access Requirements

RSPM acts as a "bridge" between offline servers running R and upstream package sources, such as CRAN. RSPM should be installed on a server in the network with outbound access to:

https://rspm-sync.rstudio.com

For additional details on the information that is downloaded from the RStudio CRAN service, see the CRAN Source section.

RSPM can be configured to use an HTTP proxy to access the internet. For more information, see the Outbound Proxy section.

If your internal servers do not have access to an online service through your internal network, then additional steps are required. For running RSPM in an air-gapped environment, refer to the Appendix - Air-Gapped RStudio Package Manager.

Air-Gapped System Requirements

The amount of storage that is required to run RSPM on an offline environment varies based on several things.

For example:

  • If you're running RSPM in an offline environment and your unique configuration, then the amount of storage required increases. 100+ GB of storage should be sufficient for the most basic setups.
  • If R package binaries are enabled, then the amount of storage depends on the number of minor R versions, operating systems, and Linux releases (if applicable) supported. For more information about R package binaries, see the Serving Package Binaries section.
    • For each minor R version, operating system, and Linux release (if applicable) RSPM requires at least an additional 100 GB of storage space.

Tip

As an example, to support R package binaries for R 3.6 and 4.0 on both Linux CentOS 7 and CentOS 8, we recommend having at least 400 GB of storage space available.

Root Requirements

By default, RSPM does not run as root. For more information, see the RunAs User section.

By default, root privileges are required to:

  • Install RSPM
  • Start and Stop RSPM via the service daemons
  • Activate RSPM license

RSPM can be installed and licensed without requiring root privileges. Instructions are available in the Appendix - Manual Installation for Minimal Root Use.

RunAs User

The RSPM service does not run as root by default. Instead, RSPM starts and runs under an unprivileged account.

The installer creates a user account and group named rstudio-pm and it runs RSPM service under this account.

If you wish to change the account under which the service runs, then refer to the Appendix - Changing RunAs User.

There are two exceptions to the installer creating and running under the default user account:

  • If the user already exists, then it isn't created.
  • If the initial system was configured for RSPM to run as a different user account, then the installer attempts to detect the user account. If it exists, then RSPM attempts to use the configured user account instead of the default rstudio-pm account.

R Installation

The Git sources functionality allows RSPM to automatically expose R packages that are tracked in Git.

If you plan on using Git sources, then RSPM requires:

  • A valid installation of R version 3.0.0 or greater
  • A configured R installation

Therefore, to utilize Git sources, you must:

  • Install R
  • Update and configure the R installation

Additionally, Git sources require a configured R installation.

For more information about Git sources, see the Git Sources section.

For more information about building R packages, see the Building R Packages section.

Installation

Download and Install RSPM

This section is for downloading and installing RSPM for your platform.

These commands will install the product into /opt/rstudio-pm.

See the Appendix - Manual Installation for Minimal Root Use to install into a non-default location or to perform a non-root install.

Run the commands for the operating system that you require:

sudo apt-get install gdebi-core
wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/rstudio-package-manager/ubuntu/amd64/rstudio-pm_1.1.6.1-7_amd64.deb
sudo gdebi rstudio-pm_1.1.6.1-7_amd64.deb

sudo apt-get install gdebi-core
wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/rstudio-package-manager/ubuntu20/amd64/rstudio-pm_1.1.6.1-7_amd64.deb
sudo gdebi rstudio-pm_1.1.6.1-7_amd64.deb

wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/rstudio-package-manager/centos/x86_64/rstudio-pm-1.1.6.1-7.x86_64.rpm
sudo yum install rstudio-pm-1.1.6.1-7.x86_64.rpm

wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/rstudio-package-manager/centos8/x86_64/rstudio-pm-1.1.6.1-7.x86_64.rpm
sudo yum install rstudio-pm-1.1.6.1-7.x86_64.rpm

wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/rstudio-package-manager/opensuse/x86_64/rstudio-pm-1.1.6.1-7.x86_64.rpm
sudo zypper install rstudio-pm-1.1.6.1-7.x86_64.rpm

wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/rstudio-package-manager/opensuse15/x86_64/rstudio-pm-1.1.6.1-7.x86_64.rpm
sudo zypper install rstudio-pm-1.1.6.1-7.x86_64.rpm

Package Validation

The RSPM installer is signed with a key belonging to RStudio.

If you wish to verify this signature, then do one of the following:

  • Obtain the public key from our website and save it into a file (e.g. rstudio-code-signing.key). For more information, see the RStudio Signed Builds page.
  • Obtain the key from a GnuPG keyserver using the following commands:
gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 3F32EE77E331692F

gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 3F32EE77E331692F
gpg --armor --export 3F32EE77E331692F > rstudio-code-signing.key

# Import the key into the set of keys RPM uses to validate package signatures
rpm --import rstudio-code-signing.key

After obtaining the GnuPG key, validate the RSPM installer executing the following commands:

dpkg-sig --verify rstudio-pm_1.1.6.1-7_amd64.deb

rpm -K rstudio-pm-1.1.6.1-7.x86_64.rpm

Initial Configuration

Note

An example configuration file that includes all the available configuration settings along with their defaults is installed at /etc/rstudio-pm/rstudio-pm.gcfg.defaults.

By default, the RSPM settings are controlled by a configuration file located at /etc/rstudio-pm/rstudio-pm.gcfg. At a minimum, complete the Address property within the Server section.

Do this by specifying the URL used to access RSPM:

; /etc/rstudio-pm/rstudio-pm.gcfg
[Server]
Address = http://r-packages.example.com

Replace http://r-packages.example.com with the value appropriate for your organization.

There are many other default options that you may want to configure now or at a later point, such as:

  • The on-disk location where data will be stored, default: /var/lib/rstudio-pm
  • The database where essential metadata should be stored, default: built-in SQLite.
  • Important security settings settings such as HTTPS certificates and ports; the default is HTTP on port 4242.

For information about multi-node or highly availability (HA) setup, refer to the High Availability and Load Balancing. This section contains the settings that are required.

Licensing

To verify the status of your license:

Terminal

/opt/rstudio-pm/bin/license-manager status

If you have a license key, then activate the license:

Terminal

/opt/rstudio-pm/bin/license-manager activate LICENSE_KEY

Note

Replace LICENSE_KEY with the value of your license key. If your server is offline or you need more information, then refer to the Licensing chapter.

Restart RStudio Package Manager

After updating the configuration file settings, it is required that you restart the RSPM service.

Note

Alternatively, most configuration setting changes can be updated by taking the RSPM service offline and bringing it back online. See Online and Offline Modes for information.

To restart the RSPM service, follow the instructions for your operating system:

sudo systemctl stop rstudio-pm
sudo systemctl start rstudio-pm

sudo stop rstudio-pm
sudo start rstudio-pm

RSPM supports the HUP signal when:

  • You are making licensing changes.
  • Activating a new license.

Note

Some configuration properties are also marked as "reloadable".

For more information about sending a HUP signal to your RSPM, see the Stopping and Starting section.

Note

Use a HUP signal when your configuration changes are limited to properties marked as reloadable. Perform a full restart of RStudio Package Manager when changing other properties.

A HUP signal only reloads configuration settings that have explicitly changed. Commenting out a setting will not affect the configuration when using the HUP signal. If you have commented out a setting instead of changing the setting value, restart the RStudio Package Manager service instead of using the HUP signal.

See the Appendix - Reloadable Properties section to learn which settings may be reloaded via HUP.

View the RStudio Package Manager Web User Interface

As a user, you can view RSPM in a web browser. Viewing RSPM in a web browser provides a user-friendly interface for viewing information about packages, package READMEs, metrics, etc.

Note

For administrative changes, use the command-line client.

To view RSPM in a web browser:

  1. Open a web browser.

  2. Navigate to RSPM by following https://r-packages.example.com:<port>

    Note

    The default port is 4242, so the path should be https://r-packages.example.com:4242.

  3. Once you navigate to the link, the RSPM Welcome page displays.

    Note

    At this point, repositories aren't available.

The Admin Command-line Interface

RSPM is administered through a command-line interface (CLI) which administrators can use to create:

  • Create repositories and sources
  • Setup sync schedules for CRAN sources

To invoke the Admin CLI, run: /opt/rstudio-pm/bin/rspm list

If you aren't able to access the Admin CLI, then verify that your user is a member of the rstudio-pm group by doing the following:

  1. Run the following to add USER to the rstudio-pm group (replace <USER> with your username): 

    sudo usermod -aG rstudio-pm <USER>

  2. Close the terminal or SSH session.

  3. Start a new session and run the groups command. This enumerates the groups that the current user is a member of.
  4. Confirm that rstudio-pm is listed.
  5. Re-run the command: 
    /opt/rstudio-pm/bin/rspm list

Note

You can select a different group to grant access to the Admin CLI. For more information, see the Appendix - Changing RunAs User chapter.

Next Steps

Now that you've successfully installed RSPM, you may now configure RSPM for your desired use case(s).

Configuration instructions are provided in the Getting Started: Configuration chapter.