Using a R instance from a container as interpreter in Positron

[agustin-alesso]

Hi there!

I'm looking for alternatives for having different R versions on my rolling release OS (which is not supported by rig). I was wondering if a Docker container running R could be used as an interpreter. I was playing around with the Containers plugin (ex Docker) and I managed to create one and attach its shell to the terminal but I couldn't send commands from a script or using Positron's the data viewer or plotting panel from the container.

I also tried using Distrobox (only for linux) for exporting a exporting a binary to the host and using it as an alternative interpreter in Positron but it didn't work.

Is there currently a way to configure Positron to connect to and execute R code interactively within a Docker (or similar) container? Would the Remote SSH extension work for this use case by connecting to a containerized R environment with SSH enabled, or is there another recommended approach?

Any guidance on current capabilities or planned features for Docker integration would be greatly appreciated.

[jmcphers]

Would the Remote SSH extension work for this use case by connecting to a containerized R environment with SSH enabled

Yes it would and it's what I'd recommend. It runs the whole IDE out of the container which is really what you want in order for the filesystem/paths/OS/etc to line up both inside and outside the R session. We bundle Remote SSH so there's nothing to install; probably the most fiddly bit is installing an SSH server inside the container.

We do have support for dev containers on our roadmap if you want to comment/upvote: #4691

There's also a community-driven repo with examples of how to use the Devpod (open source) to connect to containers from Positron: https://github.com/davidrsch/devcontainer_devpod_positron