Collaborating in R: renv with different versions of R?

Question

I am using renv to collaborate on an R projects with my colleagues. This seems to work qute nicely as soon as everyone uses the same version of R. Is this really a mandotory prerequisite or is there a possibility to still collaborate using different versions of R?

I could not find any answers on https://rstudio.github.io/renv/index.html...

Any ideas?

Answer 1

You can use different versions of R; however, be aware of issues that can arise (assuming you want everyone to be using the same packages as defined in the renv.lock lockfile):

1. The packages as declared in the lockfile might not be compatible, or available, for different versions of R;

2. Packages might behave differently depending on the version of R being used;

3. The version of R recorded in the lockfile may change depending on the person who is generating the lockfile (via renv::snapshot()).

Ultimately, it may work fine, but if your collaborators run into issues you might want to ask them to ensure they install and use the same version of R as defined in the lockfile.