rstudio / r-docker

Docker images for R

Posit R Docker Images

Posit creates and distributes an opinionated set of R binaries for different Linux distributions. These Docker images are built to use those R binaries. The images are intentionally minimal, their primary purpose is to serve as the basis for other images requiring R.

For a quick way to get started with R or RStudio, refer to the Rocker project.

WARNING: These images are considered experimental, and may change. They should not be used for strictly reproducible environments (yet!).

Sample Usage

These images can be used to execute R:

docker run --rm -it rstudio/r-base:4.2-focal

These images can also be used as the basis for other custom images. To get started, use an image as the base in a Dockerfile:

FROM rstudio/r-base:4.2-focal

Releases and Tags

The images follow these tag patterns:

Pattern	Example	Description
rstudio/r-base:distro	rstudio/r-base:focal	Base operating system + system libraries required by R.
rstudio/r-base:x.y.z-distro	rstudio/r-base:4.0.3-focal	R version x.y.z on the specified OS
rstudio/r-base:x.y-distro	rstudio/r-base:4.0-focal	Latest R version x.y.z on the specified OS, where the patch version z floats over time. For example, if R 4.0.4 is released, rstudio/r-base:4.0-focal would switch from R 4.0.3 to R 4.0.4.

The following distributions are supported:

Distribution	Full Name
focal	Ubuntu 20.04
jammy	Ubuntu 22.04
bullseye	Debian 11
bookworm	Debian 12
centos7	CentOS 7
rockylinux8	Rocky Linux 8
rockylinux9	Rocky Linux 9
opensuse154	openSUSE 15.4
opensuse155	openSUSE 15.5

All minor versions of R since 3.1 are supported, on the latest patch release.

New versions of R are added when they're available on the Posit CDN, though there may be some delay between the release of R and the release of the Docker image.

New operating systems are added on a less frequent basis.

What is R?

R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. For more information:

• R Home
• R for Data Science

Resources

• Using Docker with R
• Running Posit Products in Containers

Support

Posit does not provide professional support for these images or the R language. The best place to ask questions and provide feedback is the Posit Community.

License

View license information for R.

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Developer Resources

The following section contains information for those wishing to build these images themselves.

In general, the structure consists of the following:

• base: Base images that start with a minimal OS and add the necessary system requirements required by R.
• x.y: Images for each major.minor version of R. These images start from the base images and add R, copied from the RStudio CDN.

Building Images

# Build and test all images
make

# Build and test images for a specific R version
make VERSIONS=4.0

# Build and test images for a specific distro
make VARIANTS=focal

# Build a specific image
make build-4.0-focal
# Build a specific patch version
make build-4.0.3-focal

# Test a specific image
make test-4.0-focal
# Test a specific patch version
make test-4.0.3-focal

# Build and test all images, including historic patch versions
make INCLUDE_PATCH_VERSIONS=yes

Updating Images

1. Update update.sh and Makefile with the new distro or R version
2. Update README.md
3. Create a new /base//Dockerfile
4. Generate new Dockerfiles:

   make update-all
   
   # Or, using Docker
   make update-all-docker

5. Build and test the new images locally
6. Submit a pull request

Rebuilding Images

Rebuild images when the R build has been updated but there are no Dockerfile or base image changes. This ignores the Docker cache and reinstalls R in the image.

# rebuild all images
make rebuild-all

# Rebuild a specific image.
make rebuild-3.4-focal