R help - Oct 2018 - Can I safely use an installed R folder in a portable manner?

Hi there,

I'm currently using R on Windows as part of a piece of software and when
I'm providing it to users I have an application that runs the R
installation file with an INF file containing the following settings as to
not disrupt existing installs of R on their system.

[Setup]
Lang=en
Dir=.\R_Install\
Group=R
NoIcons=1
SetupType=user32
Components=main,i386
Tasks[R]
MDISDI=MDI
HelpStyle=HTML

The aim using this INF file is that the install should not touch the
registry, or add any icons/shortcuts anywhere.

This R install does not need to do much aside from provide the R
executables (particularly rscript.exe) for use, so I don't need it to be on
the PATH, for it to handle R files being double clicked by the user, etc.

However, I've recently found that taking the installed R folder and using
it on another PC without running the installer *seems* to work just fine
(at least for my use case of simply accessible the executables). This would
make "installing"/"uninstalling" easier as it would simply
be a case of
copying the folder, and later on deleting it.

I was wondering if there is anything I'm missing here that would make this
not feasible.

Can I safely use an installed R folder, as a base for copying it to other
PCs in a portable manner?

Thanks,
Marc

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Hi Marc,
I do this quite often with Tcl-Tk. All you have to do is make sure
that the PATH contains the correct location for the R executable if
you don't specify it within your program.

Jim
On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 1:58 AM Marc Capavanni via R-help
<r-help at r-project.org> wrote:
>
> Hi there,
>
> I'm currently using R on Windows as part of a piece of software and
when
> I'm providing it to users I have an application that runs the R
> installation file with an INF file containing the following settings as to
> not disrupt existing installs of R on their system.
>
> [Setup]
> Lang=en
> Dir=.\R_Install\
> Group=R
> NoIcons=1
> SetupType=user32
> Components=main,i386
> Tasks> [R]
> MDISDI=MDI
> HelpStyle=HTML
>
> The aim using this INF file is that the install should not touch the
> registry, or add any icons/shortcuts anywhere.
>
> This R install does not need to do much aside from provide the R
> executables (particularly rscript.exe) for use, so I don't need it to
be on
> the PATH, for it to handle R files being double clicked by the user, etc.
>
> However, I've recently found that taking the installed R folder and
using
> it on another PC without running the installer *seems* to work just fine
> (at least for my use case of simply accessible the executables). This would
> make "installing"/"uninstalling" easier as it would
simply be a case of
> copying the folder, and later on deleting it.
>
> I was wondering if there is anything I'm missing here that would make
this
> not feasible.
>
> Can I safely use an installed R folder, as a base for copying it to other
> PCs in a portable manner?
>
> Thanks,
> Marc
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

If you don't want to disturb the existing install of R then you might want
to take some effort to bring your library with you and avoid letting your copy
of R mess with the default user library. Packrat may help with this?

On October 9, 2018 2:13:40 PM PDT, Jim Lemon <drjimlemon at gmail.com>
wrote:
>Hi Marc,
>I do this quite often with Tcl-Tk. All you have to do is make sure
>that the PATH contains the correct location for the R executable if
>you don't specify it within your program.
>
>Jim
>On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 1:58 AM Marc Capavanni via R-help
><r-help at r-project.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I'm currently using R on Windows as part of a piece of software and
>when
>> I'm providing it to users I have an application that runs the R
>> installation file with an INF file containing the following settings
>as to
>> not disrupt existing installs of R on their system.
>>
>> [Setup]
>> Lang=en
>> Dir=.\R_Install\
>> Group=R
>> NoIcons=1
>> SetupType=user32
>> Components=main,i386
>> Tasks>> [R]
>> MDISDI=MDI
>> HelpStyle=HTML
>>
>> The aim using this INF file is that the install should not touch the
>> registry, or add any icons/shortcuts anywhere.
>>
>> This R install does not need to do much aside from provide the R
>> executables (particularly rscript.exe) for use, so I don't need it
to
>be on
>> the PATH, for it to handle R files being double clicked by the user,
>etc.
>>
>> However, I've recently found that taking the installed R folder and
>using
>> it on another PC without running the installer *seems* to work just
>fine
>> (at least for my use case of simply accessible the executables). This
>would
>> make "installing"/"uninstalling" easier as it would
simply be a case
>of
>> copying the folder, and later on deleting it.
>>
>> I was wondering if there is anything I'm missing here that would
make
>this
>> not feasible.
>>
>> Can I safely use an installed R folder, as a base for copying it to
>other
>> PCs in a portable manner?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Marc
>>
>>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
>______________________________________________
>R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>PLEASE do read the posting guide
>http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
-- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.