1. Install R

The latest version of R is 3.5, but version 3.4 is also available. Do one of the following, depending on which version of Ubuntu you are using, and which version of R you want.

• R 3.5 with Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr, 16.04 Xenial Xerus, 18.04 Bionic Beaver

  For the latest R 3.5 packages, add the R repository and key. For more information, see The Comprehensive R Archive Network, Ubuntu.

  echo "deb http://cran.stat.ucla.edu/bin/linux/ubuntu `lsb_release -sc`-cran35/" | sudo tee --append /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cran.list
  sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys E298A3A825C0D65DFD57CBB651716619E084DAB9
  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install r-base
  

  (If http://cran.stat.ucla.edu/bin/linux/ubuntu does not work, or you want a mirror closer to you, replace cran.stat.ucla.edu with one of the URLs listed at CRAN Mirrors).

• R 3.4 with Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr, 16.04 Xenial Xerus, 17.10 Artful Aardvark

  For the latest R 3.4 packages, add the R repository and key. For more information, see The Comprehensive R Archive Network, Ubuntu.

  echo "deb http://cran.stat.ucla.edu/bin/linux/ubuntu `lsb_release -sc`/" | sudo tee --append /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cran.list
  sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys E298A3A825C0D65DFD57CBB651716619E084DAB9
  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install r-base
  

  (If http://cran.stat.ucla.edu/bin/linux/ubuntu does not work, or you want a mirror closer to you, replace cran.stat.ucla.edu with one of the URLs listed at CRAN Mirrors).

• Universe Repository

  Sometimes R may not available from The Comprehensive R Archive Network for your version of Ubuntu (this usually happens when a new version of Ubuntu has just been released), or you may just want to install the version of R packaged specifically for Ubuntu. In that case, r-base can be installed from the Universe repositories.

  Ensure "Community maintained free and open-source software (universe)" is selected in the Software & Updates tool. Then do the following.

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install r-base
  

2. Prepare to Install R Studio

R Studio requires the JPEG runtime library, so install it.

    sudo apt install libjpeg62

Prior to Ubuntu 17.10, R Studio required the GStreamer libraries, so do one of the following, depending on which version of Ubuntu you are using.

• Ubuntu 12.04 to 16.04

  sudo apt install libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0 libgstreamer0.10-0
  

• Ubuntu 16.10 to 17.04 (32 bit)

  wget --tries=3 --timeout=120 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gstreamer0.10/libgstreamer0.10-0_0.10.36-1.5_i386.deb
  wget --tries=3 --timeout=120 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gst-plugins-base0.10/libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0_0.10.36-2_i386.deb
  sudo dpkg -i libgstreamer0.10-0_0.10.36-1.5_i386.deb
  sudo dpkg -i libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0_0.10.36-2_i386.deb
  sudo apt-mark hold libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0
  sudo apt-mark hold libgstreamer0.10
  

• Ubuntu 16.10 to 17.04 (64 bit)

  wget --tries=3 --timeout=120 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gstreamer0.10/libgstreamer0.10-0_0.10.36-1.5_amd64.deb
  wget --tries=3 --timeout=120 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gst-plugins-base0.10/libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0_0.10.36-2_amd64.deb
  sudo dpkg -i libgstreamer0.10-0_0.10.36-1.5_amd64.deb
  sudo dpkg -i libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0_0.10.36-2_amd64.deb
  sudo apt-mark hold libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0
  sudo apt-mark hold libgstreamer0.10
  

  (For more information, see https://mikewilliamson.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/installing-r-studio-on-ubuntu-16-10/).

• Ubuntu 17.10 and higher

  No additional packages are needed.

3. Install R Studio

Download the binary version of R Studio and install.

Be sure to use the latest version in the wget command. You can get the URL for the latest release by right-clicking on the Ubuntu Debian installer near the bottom of the R Studio Download page.

• Ubuntu 12.04 to 15.10 (32 Bit)

  wget --tries=3 --timeout=120 https://download1.rstudio.org/rstudio-1.1.463-i386.deb
  sudo dpkg -i rstudio-*-i386.deb
  

• Ubuntu 12.04 to 15.10 (64 Bit)

  wget --tries=3 --timeout=120 https://download1.rstudio.org/rstudio-1.1.463-amd64.deb
  sudo dpkg -i rstudio-*-amd64.deb
  

• Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.10 and higher (64 Bit only)

  wget --tries=3 --timeout=120 https://download1.rstudio.org/rstudio-xenial-1.1.463-amd64.deb
  sudo dpkg -i rstudio-*-amd64.deb
  

4. Optional

Prior to Ubuntu 17.10, if you want to show R or R Studio in the "Education" category in the Unity Dash, instead of the "Development" category, do the following, respectively.

sudo sed -i "s|Graphics;|Education;|g" /usr/share/applications/R.desktop
sudo sed -i "s|Development;|Education;Math;|g" /usr/share/applications/rstudio.desktop