Document how to install R packages as non-root user for use with Oracle R Connector for Hadoop (ORCH). 

SOLUTION

Since Oracle R Distribution (ORD) is installed as root or sudo, this raises the question of how to install other R packages as non-root user?

R is meant to be a shared application, so that when packages are installed they will be placed in a global library and will be available for all users - the default is the global directory $R_HOME i.e. /usr/lib64/R. If you install as root or sudo, packages will be installed into $R_HOME/library. If you do not install packages as root you will not have permission to write packages into the global library directory i.e. $R_HOME/library and you will be prompted to create a personal library that is writable by your user id (and thus accessible to you only).  Another option is to create another global directory writable by all R users.  If the common directory is "/a/b/c", the syntax for setting .libPaths() is:

Setting .libPaths won't persist between R sessions, so it's common practice to place this in a .Rprofile or .Rprofile.site file thus it is executed each time R is started. (from within R see ?.libPaths for more information).
 

Steps to Install R Packages as Non-root:

1. Use the default non-root location provided by R to install your package.  For example in Oracle Distribution of R version 2.15.1 that location is

Output when using default non-root location

This installs the package into ~/R/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-library/2.15/<packagename>

To uninstall a package installed in this directory i.e. from R issue below command and package will be removed from the default location

2. Within R use .libPaths() to define your global path for example: .libPaths("/a/b/c")
$ R
...
> .libPaths("/a/b/c")
> install.packages("<package_name>")

Output using this case looks like:

This installs the package into ("/a/b/c")

If you uninstall a package installed in the directory defined by .libPaths(), make sure to set .libPaths() before removing the package from R with:

3. Add the .libPaths() function to an existing .Rprofile/Rprofile.site file or create a new .Rprofile/Rprofile.site file if one does not already exist, by editing the file and adding for example:

Note that by default Rprofile.site is located at $R_HOME/etc/Rprofile.site.  It is a site-wide R initialization file.  .Rprofile is a local initialization file.  R searches for a file called .Rprofile in the current directory or in the user home directory (in that order) and sources it into the user workspace. 

Using a .Rprofile as an example:

Output using this case looks like:

This installs the package into "/a/b/c" as set by .Rprofile.

If you uninstall a package installed in the directory defined by the .Rprofile, make sure the file exists before removing the package from R by issuing:

The same holds true if Rprofile.site is used.