Installing R packages on the Gallery

chadanaber

Hello,

My question is this:  Can I install R packages on the Alteryx server without voiding support or damaging Alteryx, using the tool at https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Knowledge-Base/Install-R-Packages/ta-p/41265?

I have some R code that I would like to run on the Alteryx Gallery, but it uses the caret package.  I have used this app to install the caret package locally for use with the Alteryx designer, and my code works with this package installed. 

I am a bit scared to install additional packages on the server based on the statement in this post: https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Knowledge-Base/Use-Case-Using-Additional-R-Packages-Times-Series-Clustering/ta-p/4411

It states:

A cautionary note: As of the time of this writing (May 2016, newest version of Designer is 10.5), it's important to ensure that you only install packages that do not come with the Alteryx Predictive tools installation. You may end up installing a different version of a package that is used with the Predictive tools, and the conflicting versions can cause errors in these tools. We are currently working on an improvement that will solve this problem. The improvement should be available with the 10.6 Predictive release.

chadanaber

Here is the response I received back from Alteryx support:

I took a quick look at the community articles you referenced.  The method referenced to install additional R packages should work without issue to install R packages on the server with 10.6 and higher. As noted in the second article you can still use this method to install R packages on the server with 10.5 and lower you would just need to be cautious not to install a package that is included with the Alteryx Predictive release. Since you have tested it on your workstation and it works as expected I would say it is likely safe to proceed.

I installed the R libraries from the command line as binaries since our server doesn't have internet access, and they work fine.