Would there be any issue to have multiple users run Cmdstan simultaneously from a shared installation?

Interfaces CmdStan
1

I am planning to teach a class using Cmdstan. Students will start RStudio Server sessions on a computing cluster and open an RStudio project that will run an .Rprofile on startup that will use cmdstanr::set_cmdstan_path() to point to the location of the Cmdstan installation. Currently, the Cmdstan installation is located on a shared directory that all the students will have read-only access to.

My question is whether it is necessary for each user to copy the Cmdstan installation from the shared folder to their own home directory on the cluster, and have the .Rprofile point set_cmdstan_path() to each individual’s location. Or is it OK for all users to simultaneously be running Cmdstan from the shared installation on a read-only directory? Will that cause any conflicts? I was hoping to avoid having everyone copy the installation because it’s a bit time-consuming.

Thanks very much!

2

Unfortunately, CmdStan’s current build system generally assumes it has write access to the directory. Supporting builds where this is not the case is an open request.

In very specific circumstances (e.g., someone with write access builds a few models to pre-populate the various files CmdStan might try to create) you may be able to get away with this, but I would expect it to be rather brittle.

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Thanks this is very helpful. It will not be a problem for each user to copy everything into his/her own directory. I’m hoping everything will go smoothly for the class!

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