rapt | cornball.ai

Last updated: 2026-02-06

R + apt: A Python-free alternative to bspm for r2u binary installs.

What it does

Makes install.packages("dplyr") install r-cran-dplyr via apt instead of compiling from source. Fast binary installs with no Python in the stack.

Architecture

R session  →  Unix socket  →  raptd (root)  →  apt install r-cran-*

A minimal C daemon (raptd) listens on /run/raptd.sock and executes apt commands on behalf of unprivileged users.

Installation and Usage

With .deb (recommended)

Install build dependencies as needed

sudo apt install debhelper r-base-dev

Clone repo and cd:

git clone https://github.com/cornball-ai/rapt.git
cd rapt/pkg

Build .deb and install:

# Build
dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -b

# Install
sudo apt install ../rapt_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb

The .deb installs everything: daemon, systemd units, R package, and enables rapt system-wide.

After installing the .deb, rapt is enabled automatically. Just use R normally:

install.packages("dplyr")
#> Installing via apt: dplyr

With the R package only (no daemon, no systemd)

Clone repo and install:

git clone https://github.com/cornball-ai/rapt.git
cd rapt/r-pkg/
R CMD INSTALL .

Or without cloning:

remotes::install_github("cornball-ai/rapt", subdir = "r-pkg")

Then in R:

rapt::enable()
install.packages("dplyr")  # now goes through apt via sudo

To make it permanent, add to ~/.Rprofile:

if (requireNamespace("rapt", quietly = TRUE)) rapt::enable()

Passwordless sudo for apt

Without the daemon, rapt falls back to sudo apt. To avoid password prompts, add a sudoers rule limited to R packages:

# /etc/sudoers.d/rapt
%users ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/apt install -y r-cran-*
%users ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/apt remove -y r-cran-*
%users ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/apt install -y r-bioc-*
%users ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/apt remove -y r-bioc-*

Manual control

library(rapt)

# Check status
manager()
#> $daemon_available
#> [1] TRUE
#> $socket_path
#> [1] "/run/raptd.sock"
#> $enabled
#> [1] TRUE

# Direct system package management
install_sys("ggplot2")
remove_sys("ggplot2")

# List available system packages
head(available_sys())
#> [1] "a]4" "abc" "abcrf" "abd" "abess" "abn"

# Disable/enable hook
disable()
install.packages("dplyr")  # Now uses CRAN
enable()
install.packages("dplyr")  # Back to apt

Configuration

Options (set in ~/.Rprofile or /etc/R/Rprofile.site):

# Allow sudo fallback when daemon unavailable (default: FALSE in non-interactive)
options(rapt.sudo = TRUE)

# Custom socket path (default: /run/raptd.sock)
options(rapt.socket = "/run/raptd.sock")

Requirements

Ubuntu with r2u configured
R >= 4.0
systemd (optional — for the daemon; without it, falls back to sudo/root)

How it compares to bspm

	bspm	rapt
Backend	Python D-Bus → PackageKit	C daemon → apt
Dependencies	Python, dbus-python, PackageKit	libc
Socket	D-Bus system bus	Unix domain socket
Lines of code	~1500	~500

License

MIT

Reference

See Function Reference for complete API documentation.

Functions

rapt Reference
Function reference for rapt

Packages