Goal: Introduce ideas and practices to assist in managing the reproducibility of R environments.

What Packages Do I Have Installed?

First step is knowing what your environment is using, and where these packages are installed:

Remember to use .libPaths()

[]$ module load gcc/13.2.0 r/4.4.0
[]$ R
R version 4.4.0 (2024-04-24) -- "Puppy Cup"
...
> .libPaths()
[1] "/cluster/medbow/home/salexan5/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/4.4"
[2] "/apps/u/spack/gcc/13.2.0/r/4.4.0-pvzi4gp/rlib/R/library"
> quit()

[salexan5@mblog1 ~]$ ls /apps/u/spack/gcc/13.2.0/r/4.4.0-pvzi4gp/rlib/R/library
base  compiler  datasets  graphics  grDevices  grid  methods  parallel  splines  stats  stats4  tcltk  tools  translations  utils

[salexan5@mblog1 ~]$ ls /cluster/medbow/home/salexan5/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/4.4
class     cli    DBI    e1071  generics  KernSmooth  magrittr  pillar     proxy  R6    rlang  sf       stringr  tidyr       units  vctrs  wk
classInt  cpp11  dplyr  fansi  glue      lifecycle   MASS      pkgconfig  purrr  Rcpp  s2     stringi  tibble   tidyselect  utf8   withr  XML

Anything ARCC has installed will not be updated. We will create a new version of the base R.

Track the R Packages and Versions you have Installed

How can I track the versions of R packages installed? Using plain R:

[salexan5@mblog1 ~]$ R
R version 4.4.0 (2024-04-24) -- "Puppy Cup"
...
> write.table(installed.packages()[,c(1,2,3:4)])
"Package" "LibPath" "Version" "Priority"
"class" "class" "/cluster/medbow/home/salexan5/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/4.4" "7.3-22" "recommended"
...
"sf" "sf" "/cluster/medbow/home/salexan5/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/4.4" "1.0-16" NA
"stringi" "stringi" "/cluster/medbow/home/salexan5/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/4.4" "1.8.4" NA
"stringr" "stringr" "/cluster/medbow/home/salexan5/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/4.4" "1.5.1" NA
"tibble" "tibble" "/cluster/medbow/home/salexan5/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/4.4" "3.2.1" NA
...
"tools" "tools" "/apps/u/spack/gcc/13.2.0/r/4.4.0-pvzi4gp/rlib/R/library" "4.4.0" "base"
"utils" "utils" "/apps/u/spack/gcc/13.2.0/r/4.4.0-pvzi4gp/rlib/R/library" "4.4.0" "base"

Conda Export and R Packages

The conda list command (within an activated Conda environment) will only list the packages you’ve installed using conda install.

It does not track/list anything you’ve installed, from within R, using install.packages().

Using conda env export/conda env create create an incomplete environment.

[salexan5@mblog2 ~]$ module load miniconda3/24.3.0
conda activate /cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env
(/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env) [salexan5@mblog2 ~]$
(/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env) [salexan5@mblog2 ~]$ conda list
# packages in environment at /cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env:
#
# Name                    Version                   Build  Channel
...
r-base                    4.3.3                he2d9a6e_3    conda-forge
r-stringi                 1.8.4             r43hbd1cc82_0    conda-forge
...

Full conda list

(/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env) [salexan5@mblog2 ~]$ conda list
# packages in environment at /cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env:
#
# Name                    Version                   Build  Channel
_libgcc_mutex             0.1                 conda_forge    conda-forge
_openmp_mutex             4.5                       2_gnu    conda-forge
_r-mutex                  1.0.1               anacondar_1    conda-forge
binutils_impl_linux-64    2.40                 ha1999f0_7    conda-forge
bwidget                   1.9.14               ha770c72_1    conda-forge
bzip2                     1.0.8                hd590300_5    conda-forge
c-ares                    1.28.1               hd590300_0    conda-forge
ca-certificates           2024.6.2             hbcca054_0    conda-forge
cairo                     1.18.0               hbb29018_2    conda-forge
curl                      8.8.0                he654da7_0    conda-forge
expat                     2.6.2                h59595ed_0    conda-forge
font-ttf-dejavu-sans-mono 2.37                 hab24e00_0    conda-forge
font-ttf-inconsolata      3.000                h77eed37_0    conda-forge
font-ttf-source-code-pro  2.038                h77eed37_0    conda-forge
font-ttf-ubuntu           0.83                 h77eed37_2    conda-forge
fontconfig                2.14.2               h14ed4e7_0    conda-forge
fonts-conda-ecosystem     1                             0    conda-forge
fonts-conda-forge         1                             0    conda-forge
freetype                  2.12.1               h267a509_2    conda-forge
fribidi                   1.0.10               h36c2ea0_0    conda-forge
gcc_impl_linux-64         13.2.0              h9eb54c0_13    conda-forge
gfortran_impl_linux-64    13.2.0              h9efe08d_13    conda-forge
graphite2                 1.3.13            h59595ed_1003    conda-forge
gsl                       2.7                  he838d99_0    conda-forge
gxx_impl_linux-64         13.2.0              h2a599c4_13    conda-forge
harfbuzz                  8.5.0                hfac3d4d_0    conda-forge
icu                       73.2                 h59595ed_0    conda-forge
kernel-headers_linux-64   2.6.32              he073ed8_17    conda-forge
keyutils                  1.6.1                h166bdaf_0    conda-forge
krb5                      1.21.3               h659f571_0    conda-forge
ld_impl_linux-64          2.40                 hf3520f5_7    conda-forge
lerc                      4.0.0                h27087fc_0    conda-forge
libblas                   3.9.0           22_linux64_openblas    conda-forge
libcblas                  3.9.0           22_linux64_openblas    conda-forge
libcurl                   8.8.0                hca28451_0    conda-forge
libdeflate                1.20                 hd590300_0    conda-forge
libedit                   3.1.20191231         he28a2e2_2    conda-forge
libev                     4.33                 hd590300_2    conda-forge
libexpat                  2.6.2                h59595ed_0    conda-forge
libffi                    3.4.2                h7f98852_5    conda-forge
libgcc-devel_linux-64     13.2.0             hdb50d1a_113    conda-forge
libgcc-ng                 13.2.0              h77fa898_13    conda-forge
libgfortran-ng            13.2.0              h69a702a_13    conda-forge
libgfortran5              13.2.0              h3d2ce59_13    conda-forge
libglib                   2.80.2               h8a4344b_1    conda-forge
libgomp                   13.2.0              h77fa898_13    conda-forge
libiconv                  1.17                 hd590300_2    conda-forge
libjpeg-turbo             3.0.0                hd590300_1    conda-forge
liblapack                 3.9.0           22_linux64_openblas    conda-forge
libnghttp2                1.58.0               h47da74e_1    conda-forge
libopenblas               0.3.27          pthreads_h413a1c8_0    conda-forge
libpng                    1.6.43               h2797004_0    conda-forge
libsanitizer              13.2.0              h6ddb7a1_13    conda-forge
libssh2                   1.11.0               h0841786_0    conda-forge
libstdcxx-devel_linux-64  13.2.0             hdb50d1a_113    conda-forge
libstdcxx-ng              13.2.0              hc0a3c3a_13    conda-forge
libtiff                   4.6.0                h1dd3fc0_3    conda-forge
libuuid                   2.38.1               h0b41bf4_0    conda-forge
libwebp-base              1.4.0                hd590300_0    conda-forge
libxcb                    1.16                 hd590300_0    conda-forge
libzlib                   1.3.1                h4ab18f5_1    conda-forge
make                      4.3                  hd18ef5c_1    conda-forge
ncurses                   6.5                  h59595ed_0    conda-forge
openssl                   3.3.1                h4ab18f5_1    conda-forge
pango                     1.54.0               h84a9a3c_0    conda-forge
pcre2                     10.44                h0f59acf_0    conda-forge
pixman                    0.43.2               h59595ed_0    conda-forge
pthread-stubs             0.4               h36c2ea0_1001    conda-forge
r-base                    4.3.3                he2d9a6e_3    conda-forge
r-stringi                 1.8.4             r43hbd1cc82_0    conda-forge
readline                  8.2                  h8228510_1    conda-forge
sed                       4.8                  he412f7d_0    conda-forge
sysroot_linux-64          2.12                he073ed8_17    conda-forge
tk                        8.6.13          noxft_h4845f30_101    conda-forge
tktable                   2.10                 h8bc8fbc_6    conda-forge
xorg-kbproto              1.0.7             h7f98852_1002    conda-forge
xorg-libice               1.1.1                hd590300_0    conda-forge
xorg-libsm                1.2.4                h7391055_0    conda-forge
xorg-libx11               1.8.9                hb711507_1    conda-forge
xorg-libxau               1.0.11               hd590300_0    conda-forge
xorg-libxdmcp             1.1.3                h7f98852_0    conda-forge
xorg-libxext              1.3.4                h0b41bf4_2    conda-forge
xorg-libxrender           0.9.11               hd590300_0    conda-forge
xorg-libxt                1.3.0                hd590300_1    conda-forge
xorg-renderproto          0.11.1            h7f98852_1002    conda-forge
xorg-xextproto            7.3.0             h0b41bf4_1003    conda-forge
xorg-xproto               7.0.31            h7f98852_1007    conda-forge
xz                        5.2.6                h166bdaf_0    conda-forge
zlib                      1.3.1                h4ab18f5_1    conda-forge
zstd                      1.5.6                ha6fb4c9_0    conda-forge

(/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env) [salexan5@mblog2 ~]$ R
R version 4.3.3 (2024-02-29) -- "Angel Food Cake"
...
> .libPaths()
[1] "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library"
> write.table(installed.packages()[,c(1,2,3:4)])

R Packages and Versions:

> write.table(installed.packages()[,c(1,2,3:4)])
"Package" "LibPath" "Version" "Priority"
"base" "base" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"base64enc" "base64enc" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "0.1-3" NA
"cli" "cli" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "3.6.3" NA
"compiler" "compiler" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"crayon" "crayon" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.5.3" NA
"datasets" "datasets" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"digest" "digest" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "0.6.36" NA
"evaluate" "evaluate" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "0.24.0" NA
"fansi" "fansi" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.0.6" NA
"fastmap" "fastmap" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.2.0" NA
"glue" "glue" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.7.0" NA
"graphics" "graphics" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"grDevices" "grDevices" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"grid" "grid" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"htmltools" "htmltools" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "0.5.8.1" NA
"IRdisplay" "IRdisplay" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.1" NA
"IRkernel" "IRkernel" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.3.2" NA
"jsonlite" "jsonlite" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.8.8" NA
"lifecycle" "lifecycle" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.0.4" NA
"methods" "methods" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"parallel" "parallel" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"pbdZMQ" "pbdZMQ" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "0.3-11" NA
"pillar" "pillar" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.9.0" NA
"repr" "repr" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.1.7" NA
"rlang" "rlang" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.1.4" NA
"splines" "splines" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"stats" "stats" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"stats4" "stats4" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"stringi" "stringi" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.8.4" NA
"tcltk" "tcltk" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"tools" "tools" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"utf8" "utf8" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.2.4" NA
"utils" "utils" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "4.3.3" "base"
"uuid" "uuid" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "1.2-0" NA
"vctrs" "vctrs" "/cluster/medbow/project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library" "0.6.5" NA

() []$ ls /project/arcc/software/conda-envs/r_4.3.3_env/lib/R/library/
base       compiler  digest    fastmap   grDevices  IRdisplay  lifecycle  pbdZMQ  rlang    stats4   tools         utils
base64enc  crayon    evaluate  glue      grid       IRkernel   methods    pillar  splines  stringi  translations  uuid
cli        datasets  fansi     graphics  htmltools  jsonlite   parallel   repr    stats    tcltk    utf8          vctrs

Track the Building of Your Environments

You will need to use a combination of:

System: module load r/<version>
R: .libPaths()
R: install.packages()
Conda: conda list/conda env export/conda env create

To record and track how your environment is made up.

Be aware that updating a package might update all it’s dependencies.

The order you install packages might also make a difference.

Install R Packages with a Specific Version

R’s base install.packages() only allows you to install a specific version of a package when you’ve downloaded the source.

The conda install does allow you to define a specific version.

There are a number of R packages to assist you:

remotes: R Package Installation from Remote Repositories, Including 'GitHub'
versions: Query and Install Specific Versions of Packages on CRAN
devtools: Tools to Make Developing R Packages Easier

Suggested Best Practices

For specific projects/research focuses, create specific libraries and or conda environments (with everything installed within that conda environment) to localize used packages/versions.
Regularly track/update what packages you’re using (install.packages / conda install r-<package-name>) and their versions.
Be mindful of dependencies that a package additional installs.
Be mindful when prompted whether you want to update dependencies or not.
Avoid trying to have a behemoth of a single environment - consider have a number of independent environments/libraries that can be more easily managed and shared along a workflow/pipeline.

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Create an R Kernel for a Jupyter Notebook

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Using R and RStudio on the Cluster

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Parallel R: Introduction

R Environments and Reproducibility