Why Docker?

Recently, I encountered a problem with an R package I wanted to install. However, this package requires a higher version of R than the one currently installed on my system. Due to system limitations, I cannot upgrade R. Therefore, I decided to use Docker, which resolves many of these issues for me.

Step-by-Step Installation

Assuming you have Docker installed, it is straightforward to get the RStudio image from Rocker using Docker:

• Open your terminal.
• In the command line, type:
  • docker pull rocker/rstudio (add sudo if you encounter a permission denied error)
  • docker images (you should see the repository for rocker/rstudio)

Using RStudio with Docker

• Now that you have the rocker/rstudio image in Docker, you need to create a container using the following command:
  • docker run -d -p 8787:8787 -e USER=<username> -e PASSWORD=<password> rocker/rstudio
• You can check the Docker containers using:
  • docker container list
• If you see the container for the rocker/rstudio image, it means you have successfully created the container. (Note: remember the name of your container, as it is important.)
• Open your browser and visit “localhost:8787”; you should see the RStudio server running. Firefox is recommended, as I encountered issues with Google Chrome.
• You can use R as usual. To stop the running container, use:
  • docker stop <container_name>
• If you want to use your container in the future, simply remember its name. To start your container again, use:
  • docker start <container_name>