In February, we upgraded the operating system used by new projects to Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal). This ensures that you can use the latest versions of R and Python packages with confidence that the underlying operating system has the features they require.
Existing projects were not affected by this change. But beginning September 13th, 2021 we will automatically upgrade any project still using the older OS to Ubuntu 20.04 when the project is opened.
For most of you, no action on your part is necessary - the upgrade will happen automatically the next time you open an older project. However, if you have a shared space with a base project or assignment projects that use the older OS, we recommend that you upgrade them to the newer OS. If they are NOT upgraded, each time a project gets created from them, the new project will need to get upgraded. This will happen automatically, but the upgrade process will take additional time every time you create a project. If you upgrade the base and/or assignment projects, new projects made from them will be initialized with the new OS, and will not have to go through the time consuming upgrade process.
To upgrade an existing base project after September 13th, simply open it and the upgrade will happen automatically. To upgrade an existing project before September 13th, open the project, open the Settings panel, select the System tab, select Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal) as your operating system, and press the Apply Changes button.
Please let us know if you have any questions and thank you for using RStudio Cloud.