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Install Posit Pro Drivers for Linux#

Linux OS#

RPM/DEB Installation - Recommended

On Linux you can install Posit Professional Drivers using RPM/DEB packages with these instructions.

This installation method gives you immediate access to all available drivers and provides a streamlined upgrade process for multiple drivers.

Individual Driver Installation

If you cannot install RPM/DEB packages on your Linux Desktop, you can use the following steps below.

Step 1. Install dependencies#

  • Install an OBDC driver manager using your system package manager:

    $ sudo yum install unixODBC unixODBC-devel

    $ sudo apt-get install unixodbc unixodbc-dev gdebi

    $ sudo zypper install unixODBC unixODBC-devel
    Verify that you're running unixODBC 2.3.5 or later

    There are known issues using older versions of unixODBC.

    Running the command odbcinst --version should tell you which version your Linux installation provides. If you have a unixODBC version below 2.3.5, please use the following steps to upgrade it to the latest:

    curl -O http://www.unixodbc.org/unixODBC-2.3.9.tar.gz
tar -xvf unixODBC-2.3.9.tar.gz && cd unixODBC-2.3.9
./configure && make
sudo make install

    Then confirm the installation with version 2.3.9 with odbcinst --version.

    After this, you must reinstall the odbc package in R, if already installed.

    sudo make install by default will add libraries to /usr/local/lib. In some default installations of R, this path will not be present on the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable set by R at startup.

    Check the following within RStudio: 

    Sys.getenv("LD_LIBRARY_PATH")

    If /usr/local/lib is not present at the beginning of this list, modify the ldpaths script for your version(s) of R to ensure that it is set at the beginning of the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable.

    The path to the ldpaths script can be found as a symlink at <R installation directory>/etc/ldpaths. For default R installations, this will be /usr/lib/R/etc/ldpaths, which by default links to /etc/R/ldpaths.

    It is generally sufficient to change /etc/R/ldpaths like so: 

    ...
LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/local/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

    You must make sure that the library paths are set properly before reinstalling the ODBC package, or the wrong version of the library will be loaded and user-installed drivers will not work correctly.

    Only then you should reinstall the odbc package: 

    install.packages(c("odbc"))

    Additional steps for using the Oracle database driver

    If you are working with the Oracle database, you must:

    • Install version 19.8 of the Oracle Instant Client
    • Link the Oracle library directory to the Posit Professional Drivers library directory by running the following command:
    Terminal
    $ ln -s /usr/lib/oracle/19.x/client64/lib/* /opt/rstudio-drivers/oracle/bin/lib/

    Please adjust the directory minor version (x) according to the installed version of the Oracle Instant Client.

    For more information on connecting to Oracle Databases, see the Connecting to Oracle databases with Posit Professional Drivers support article.

    Additional steps for using the Snowflake driver version 1.7.0

    This step is no longer necessary on version 1.8.0 of the driver and later.

    Once the Snowflake driver is installed, the file /opt/rstudio-drivers/snowflake/bin/lib/rstudio.snowflakeodbc.ini must be updated to contain the following:

    /opt/rstudio-drivers/snowflake/bin/lib/rstudio.snowflakeodbc.ini file
    [Driver]

CABundleFile=/opt/rstudio-drivers/snowflake/bin/lib/cacert.pem
ErrorMessagesPath=
LogLevel=0
LogPath=

Step 2. Install the drivers#

The drivers are installed using RStudio Desktop Pro:

  • Open RStudio Desktop Pro.
  • In the Connections pane, click New Connection.
  • Select the data source from the list.
  • Specify where the driver will be installed (the default path is /home/<user>/.local/share/rstudio/odbc/drivers) and click Next.
  • After the installation completes, click Next. The driver has now been installed.
  • You can either:
    • Click Cancel.
    • Enter the connection details to test and/or establish a connection.

Installing the drivers this way automatically updates entries in the odbcinst.ini file used by unixODBC.

  • To determine the path to the file that is used, run the following in the terminal:

    Terminal
    $ odbcinst -j

The output may resemble:

Terminal
$ unixODBC 2.3.7
$ DRIVERS............: /usr/local/etc/odbcinst.ini
$ SYSTEM DATA SOURCES: /usr/local/etc/odbc.ini
$ FILE DATA SOURCES..: /usr/local/etc/ODBCDataSources
$ USER DATA SOURCES..: /home/username/.odbc.ini
$ SQLULEN Size.......: 8
$ SQLLEN Size........: 8
$ SQLSETPOSIROW Size.: 8

The DRIVERS... entry shows the location of the odbcinst.ini file.

Step 3. Testing database connectivity#

Database connectivity can be tested directly from within RStudio Desktop Pro:

  • Open RStudio Desktop Pro.
  • In the Connections pane, click New Connection.
  • Select the data source from the list.
  • Enter the requested information and click Test.
  • If prompted, enter the database password.
Configure ODBC DSNs for testing and making database connections

If you prefer, you can also set up ODBC DSNs to test and make database connections.

  • DSNs can be defined in ~/.odbc.ini. For example:

    File: ~/. odbc.ini
    [test]
Driver = SQLServer
Server = my.server.name
Database = dbname
Port = 1433

  • Then, you may access the DSN directly from the New Connection dialog or test from the terminal with the following:

    Terminal
    $ isql test

Uninstallation#

The drivers are uninstalled using RStudio Desktop Pro:

  1. Open RStudio Desktop Pro.
  2. In the Connections pane, click New Connection.
  3. Select the data source from the list.
  4. Click Uninstall....
  5. When prompted to uninstall the driver, click Yes.

This removes the driver files and deletes the driver entry from odbcinst.ini.