r_version

The R version to install packages for, containing at least the major and minor versions.

Finding the Executable

The R version is found on the system according to the following guidelines:

Version Matching

rv utilizes a flexible version matching approach, similar to Posit Connect’s major-minor approach. If the patch version is specified, it will perform an exact match. If the patch version is not specified, it will match to any R version found with the same major and minor version.

For example, if R 4.5.0 and 4.5.1 are found on the system, the following matches will occur:

• r_version = "4.5" → 4.5.0 and 4.5.1
• r_version = "4.5.0" → 4.5.0

Since R packages are compatible across patch versions of R, it is recommended to specify only the major and minor version to increase cross-system compatibility.

Known Binary Locations

rv will look to find the specified versions of R first on the path, then in the following locations based on OS:

• Linux - Searches within the subdirectories of /opt/R (i.e. /opt/R/4.5.0/bin/R)
• macOS - rv looks for R on the path first; if it isn’t found there, or the version found doesn’t match, it also scans /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/* (the layout used by the CRAN installer) and /opt/homebrew/Cellar/r/* (Apple Silicon Homebrew installs). Intel Homebrew’s /usr/local/Cellar/r is not scanned.
• Windows - rig keeps the installed/selected version as R.bat, therefore we check for R.bat on the path first. If not found there, rv also scans C:\Program Files\R\R-*.

Note

• For interactive sessions of R in an rv project, if the R version does not match the R version in your config, rv enters a safe mode for that session: the library is redirected to a temporary directory (tempdir()/__rv_R_mismatch), so any package installs or loads during the mismatch silently use a throwaway library rather than the project’s real library. rv does not use the current R session, so packages may be installed for versions of R that your session is not currently using.

• When adding an R version to the path, the R executable is often within a bin/ directory

use_devel

Introduced in rv v0.18.0

If you are running an R-devel build (identified by a non-empty status field in R’s Rversion.h), set use_devel = true alongside r_version so rv matches against that devel installation instead of a released version with the same major/minor version.

[project]
name = "devel project"
r_version = "4.6"
use_devel = true
repositories = [
    { alias = "PPM", url = "https://packagemanager.posit.co/cran/latest" },
]
dependencies = [
    "dplyr",
]

Default: false