Skip to contents

Generate a reproducible Dockerfile for R projects

Source: R/generate_dockerfile.R
generate_dockerfile.Rd

Creates a customizable Dockerfile tailored to R-based workflows, supporting multiple Rocker images (base R, tidyverse, RStudio Server, and publishing-ready configurations). The function allows inclusion of data, code, and miscellaneous files, sets up system libraries, optionally installs Quarto, and configures user access. It supports verbose output and inline comments for transparency and educational use. Designed to streamline containerization for reproducible research and deployment.

Usage

generate_dockerfile(
  verbose = FALSE,
  r_version = "current",
  data_file = NULL,
  code_file = NULL,
  misc_file = NULL,
  add_user = NULL,
  home_dir = "/home",
  install_quarto = FALSE,
  expose_port = "8787",
  r_mode = "base",
  comments = FALSE
)

Arguments

verbose

logical (TRUE or FALSE). Should generate_dockerfile() print out progress? By default, it will silently create a Dockerfile

r_version

a character string indicated a version of R, i.e., "4.3.0". By default, it will grab the version of R from the current session

data_file

a character string indicating an optional name of a data file to be copied into the container

code_file

a character string indicating an optional name of a script file to be copied into the container

misc_file

a character string indicating an optional name of miscellaneous files to be copied into the container

add_user

a character string indicating an optional name of a linux user to be created inside the container

home_dir

a character string specifying the home directory inside the container

install_quarto

logical (TRUE or FALSE). If TRUE it will include supporting packages and system libraries to support Quarto and RMarkdown.

expose_port

a character string indicating in which port will RStudio Server be accessible. It defaults to 8787

r_mode

a character string. Inspired by the images in the Rocker Project. The options are "base" for base R, "tidyverse", "rstudio" for RStudio Server, and "tidystudio" which is tidyverse plus TeX Live and some publishing-related R packages

comments

a logical (TRUE or FALSE). If TRUE, the Dockerfile generated will include comments detailing what each line does. If FALSE, the Dockerfile will be bare with only commands.

Value

invisibly returns NULL. This function is called for its side effects and does not return a value.

Examples

# Basic Usage
if (FALSE) generate_dockerfile() # \dontrun{}
# Specify a tidyverse ready image
if (FALSE) generate_dockerfile(r_mode = "tidyverse") # \dontrun{}
# Specify an image with R 4.2.0 installed
if (FALSE) generate_dockerfile(r_version = "4.2.0") # \dontrun{}