Run RStudio with a specific R version through a docker container with support for renv caching on host.

buildandrun.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -eu

#set variables
r_ver="${r_ver:-"4.0.4"}"
image_name="${image_name:-"rstudio_r${r_ver}"}"
password="${password:-"supersafepassword"}"
port="${port:-"8787"}" #will generate a random one if unavailable
RENV_PATHS_CACHE_HOST="${HOME}/.local/share/renv/cache" #path to renv cache on host, renv default is ~/.local/share/renv/cache
RENV_PATHS_CACHE_CONTAINER="/usr/local/lib/R/renv-cache/" #path to renv cache within the container (dont have to change)
num_threads=$(($(nproc) - 2)) #all cores except 2
#done setting variables

#build the container image
echo "Creating temporary folder for the Dockerfile..."
tmpdir=$(mktemp -dt "rstudio_r${r_ver}_XXXXX")
pushd "$tmpdir" > /dev/null

#sensible default rstudio preferences
cat << rstudio-prefs > rstudio-prefs.json
{
  "save_workspace": "never",
  "always_save_history": false,
  "reuse_sessions_for_project_links": true,
  "load_workspace": false,
  "initial_working_directory": "/",
  "console_double_click_select": true,
  "editor_theme": "Merbivore Soft",
  "rmd_chunk_output_inline": false,
  "hide_console_on_chunk_execute": false,
  "posix_terminal_shell": "bash",
  "real_time_spellchecking": false
}
rstudio-prefs

#dockerfile
cat << Dockerfile > Dockerfile
FROM rocker/rstudio:${r_ver}

#multithreaded make
ENV MAKEFLAGS="-j ${num_threads} "

#install nice-to-have system dependencies for R, and netstat to scan ports
ARG DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
RUN apt-get update -qqy && \\
  apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests \\
    libxml2-dev \\
    libcairo2-dev \\
    libxt-dev \\
    libjpeg-dev \\
    net-tools \\
    libharfbuzz-dev \\
    libfribidi-dev \\
    libfreetype6-dev \\
    libpng-dev

#set default renv cache path in container
#change CRAN mirror from https://packagemanager.rstudio.com to AAU mirror
#install renv, and install all packages in the lock file to /usr/local/lib/R/site-library/ in container
RUN echo "RENV_PATHS_CACHE=${RENV_PATHS_CACHE_CONTAINER}" >> /usr/local/lib/R/etc/Renviron.site && \\
  R -e "install.packages('renv', Ncpus = ${num_threads})" && \\
  R -e "renv::consent(provided = TRUE)"

#add rstudio-prefs.json
COPY ./rstudio-prefs.json /home/rstudio/.config/rstudio/rstudio-prefs.json

#enable users to install R packages
RUN chown 1000:1000 -R \\
  /usr/local/lib/R/site-library \\
  /usr/local/lib/R/library \\
  /home/rstudio

#silence RStudio warnings about not being able to write dictionary stuff to /root
VOLUME /root
Dockerfile

docker build -t "${image_name}" .
echo "Removing temporary folder..."
popd > /dev/null && rm -rf "$tmpdir"

checkPort() {
  randomPort() {
    echo $(( ( RANDOM % 60000 )  + 1025 ))
  }
  local port
  local check_port
  check_port=${1:-"$(randomPort)"}

  while [ -n "$check_port" ]
  do
    port="$check_port"
    check_port=$(docker run --rm --net=host "${image_name}" netstat -atn | grep "$port" || :)
    if [ -n "$check_port" ]
    then
      check_port="$(randomPort)"
    fi 
  done
  echo "$port"
}

port=$(checkPort "$port")

mkdir -p "${RENV_PATHS_CACHE_HOST}"

#launch the container with the host cache mounted in the container
docker run -d \
  -e "PASSWORD=${password}" \
  -e "RENV_PATHS_CACHE=${RENV_PATHS_CACHE_CONTAINER}" \
  -v "${RENV_PATHS_CACHE_HOST}:${RENV_PATHS_CACHE_CONTAINER}" \
  -v "$HOME:$HOME" \
  -p "$port":8787 \
  "${image_name}"

echo
echo "Launch RStudio through a browser at one of these adresses:"
echo "http://127.0.0.1:${port} (this machine only)"
for IP in $(hostname -I)
do
  echo "http://${IP}:${port}"
done
echo
echo "Username: rstudio"
echo "Password: ${password}"

Also solves issue rstudio/renv#446 (comment)