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The Rockerverse: Packages and Applications for Containerisation with R

  • Daniel Nüst*
  • , Dirk Eddelbuettel
  • , Dom Bennett
  • , Robrecht Cannoodt
  • , Dav Clark
  • , Gergely Daróczi
  • , Mark Edmondson
  • , Colin Fay
  • , Ellis Hughes
  • , Lars Kjeldgaard
  • , Sean Lopp
  • , Ben Marwick
  • , Heather Nolis
  • , Jacqueline Nolis
  • , Hong Ooi
  • , Karthik Ram
  • , Noam Ross
  • , Lori Shepherd
  • , Péter Sólymos
  • , Tyson Lee Swetnam
  • Nitesh Turaga, Charlotte Van Petegem, Jason Williams, Craig Willis, Nan Xiao
*Corresponding author for this work
  • University of Münster
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • University of Gothenburg
  • Ghent University
  • Gigantum, Inc.
  • Optimum Dosing Strategies
  • Alphabet Inc.
  • ThinkR
  • Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
  • Danish Tax Authorities
  • RStudio, Inc.
  • University of Washington
  • T-Mobile USA
  • LLC
  • Level 5
  • University of California at Berkeley
  • EcoHealth Alliance
  • Roswell Park Cancer Institute
  • Analythium Solutions
  • University of Arizona
  • Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
  • Seven Bridges Genomics Inc

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

The Rocker Project provides widely used Docker images for R across different application scenarios. This article surveys downstream projects that build upon the Rocker Project images and presents the current state of R packages for managing Docker images and controlling containers. These use cases cover diverse topics such as package development, reproducible research, collaborative work, cloud-based data processing, and production deployment of services. The variety of applications demonstrates the power of the Rocker Project specifically and containerisation in general. Across the diverse ways to use containers, we identified common themes: reproducible environments, scalability and efficiency, and portability across clouds. We conclude that the current growth and diversification of use cases is likely to continue its positive impact, but see the need for consolidating the Rockerverse ecosystem of packages, developing common practices for applications, and exploring alternative containerisation software.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)437-461
Number of pages25
JournalR Journal
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes

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