macOS

Installation

Software	Description	Website
R	The R environment	link
XQuartz	Graphical window system	link
RStudio Desktop	Integrated development environment (IDE) for R	link
Pandoc	Document converter used by rmarkdown	link
Quarto CLI	Scientific publishing system built on Pandoc	link
Git	Version control software	link
Docker Desktop	Containerization software	link

We are going to install the required software by using Homebrew, a package manager for macOS. A package manager is a way to get software (and software updates) onto your machine without much work on your part. It’s the macOS equivalent of yum, pacman or apt-get.

Before installing Homebrew, we need to install the Apple software Xcode Command Line Tools. It is a self-contained package for software developers who wish to build Mac apps using UNIX-style commands.

Open a Terminal, run this line and accept the license:

## Install Xcode Command Line Tools ----
sudo xcode-select --install

We can now install Homebrew itself by running:

## Install Homebrew ----
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

## Check installation ----
brew --version
# Homebrew 4.3.23

## Update repositories (list of available software) ----
brew update

It’s time to install the required softwares:

## Install utilities for R ----
brew install --cask xquartz     ## Graphical window system
brew install gfortran           ## FORTRAN compiler for GCC

## Install R ----
brew install --cask r

## Install RStudio Desktop ----
brew install --cask rstudio

## Install git ----
brew install git

## Install pandoc ----
brew install pandoc

## Install Quarto ----
brew install --cask quarto

## Install Docker ----
brew install docker

In addition, we need to install the package quarto:

## Install quarto package ----
install.packages("quarto")

Finally, let’s install a LaTeX distribution to convert documents from .Rmd (or .qmd) to .pdf. We are going to install a lightened distribution w/ the package tinytex.

## Install tinytex package ----
install.packages("tinytex")

## Install LaTeX distribution ----
tinytex::install_tinytex()

Important

If you already have a LaTeX distribution, do not use tinytex.

Check

  Restart your machine.

Open RStudio and run:

## Get R version ----
R.version.string
# "R version 4.4.2 (2024-10-31)"

## Check if git is installed ----
Sys.which("git")
#            git
# "/usr/bin/git"

## Check if make is installed ----
Sys.which("make")
#            make 
# "/usr/bin/make"

## Check if Pandoc is installed ----
Sys.which("pandoc")
#                  pandoc 
# "/usr/local/bin/pandoc"

## Check if Quarto is installed ----
Sys.which("Quarto")
#                  Quarto 
# "/usr/local/bin/Quarto"

## Check if LaTeX is installed ----
Sys.which("pdflatex")
#                  pdflatex 
# "/usr/local/bin/pdflatex" 

## Check if Docker is installed ----
Sys.which("docker")
#                  docker 
# "/usr/local/bin/docker" 

## Install package from sources ----
install.packages("jsonlite", type = "source")

Update your system regularly

Keep your macOS Apps up-to-date by running:

## Check for updates ----
brew update

## Update macOS Apps ----
brew upgrade --greedy

Configuration

You’ve just installed a working environment for data science w/ , , and .
Now follow instruction to configure your system.