How to use install.package() on Solus
Unless you are only going to use base R functions, you will need to make use of install.package() within R to install additional libraries. To use this function within R you need to install certain development packages which vary depending on the library you are trying to enable within R.
On other linux distros (like debian, ubuntu, and fedora) this is accomplished through the installation of r-devel. However since Solus does not have an r-devel package these dependencies have to be installed through other means.
There two main solus packages that will include many of the dependencies required that allow you to install most R CRAN packages. These are system.devel and curl-devel.
system.devel can ONLY be installed from within terminal by running the command sudo eopkg it -c system.develcurl-devel can be found by searching in the Software Center or by running the command sudo eopkg it curl-devel
Once these two Solus packages are installed install.package() will work as usual within R for most packages like tidyverse.
If when you try to install a CRAN library with install.package() from within R and you are presented with an error that says ...exited with non zero exit status this is most likely because one of the required dependencies, which will be listed within the R console detailing the error, is contained within a Solus devel package you have not yet installed.
