Question
An RStudio release supports only specific versions of R and R Graphics Engine. But where could one find the compatibility matrix or equivalent information?
Note: The question is analogous to Which TensorFlow and CUDA version combinations are compatible?. Ideally I also expect something like the Tensorflow tested build configurations to be documented, but I couldn't find it anywhere.
The question ends here. Contents below are elaborated for community reference.
Appendices
Importance
There are many scenarios that the developer is forced to adapt the version of R to Rstudio, or vice versa. For example,
- Scenario 1: Client code with strict dependency -> You can't change R version and must use a compatible version of RStudio instead.
- Scenario 2: On a development/testing environment/team where Rstudio version is fixed -> You must use only compatible versions of R.
Without a compatibility matrix, the environmental setup process simply goes rogue. An installation plan won't be possible. To name a few:
- How many and which RStudio versions are required to handle all projects is unknown.
- Usable RStudio version(s) for maintaining old projects is unknown.
- Usable R version(s) on a RStudio machine is unknown.
One could end up wasting a lot of time searching but only finding limited and fragmented discussions (see References for example complaints).
R Graphics Engine Issue
In addition, sometimes R itself could work with RStudio but not its associated graphics engine. The following message is triggered upon import of a library with visualization utilities (e.g. library(dplyr) or library(ggplot2)).
R graphics engine version XX is not supported by this version of RStudio.
This occurs with both system-installed and conda-installed combinations of (Rstudio, R). A non-working example is (RStudio 1.1.456, R 4.2.0), tested with a x86-64 laptop and Debian 12 OS.
Therefore, compatibility information of (RStudio, R) and preferably also the R Graphics Engine is strongly desired.
References
Some complaints found by searching "RStudio R compability" on Google and SO: