Install

guide

plant is an R package with compiled C++ code. This page gives you the shortest route from a new R session to a working installation.

Before you install

You need R 4.5.0 or newer and a compiler that supports C++20. Recent versions of clang and gcc work on macOS and Linux. On Windows, install the version of Rtools that matches your R installation.

plant is installed from GitHub rather than CRAN. Install the remotes package once, then use it to install plant and its dependencies:

install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("traitecoevo/plant", dependencies = TRUE)

This installs the current default branch. If you need a particular release for a reproducible analysis, choose a tag from the plant releases and include it after @. For example:

remotes::install_github("traitecoevo/plant@v2.0.0", dependencies = TRUE)

Check the installation

Start a fresh R session and run:

library(plant)
packageVersion("plant")

p <- scm_base_parameters("FF16")
p <- add_strategies(p, trait_matrix(0.0825, "lma"))
results <- run_scm(p, collect = TRUE)

If this completes without an error, the package and its compiled code are working. results contains the changing state of a patch of plants; later guides explain how to inspect it.

TipNext step

Continue to Your first individual to meet the main objects and learn how a single plant grows before adding competition.

Installing from a local checkout

Building from a cloned repository is mainly useful when you want to contribute to plant or test unreleased changes. Clone the repository, open R in that directory, and run:

devtools::install_deps()
devtools::install()

Use the GitHub installation above if you only want to run the model.