Troubleshooting: install R from precompiled binaries on a Linux server + Open Source Shiny Server

Description of issue -
I am running R and Open Source Shiny Server a RHEL/CentOS Linux 7 (Core). We currently have about 20 Shiny apps running on the server and a prior default 'yum install R' version (R 3.5.2) with the shiny package version 1.4.0, and Shiny Server v1.5.4.869.

I would like to install R version 3.5.3, test that all my apps still work and then migrate to it. I'd like to do the same for 3.6.2, and enable version-specific libraries (which are not enabled in a default installation of R on Linux). The most helpful resources I could find were the following:
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/215488098-Installing-multiple-versions-of-R-on-Linux which says to follow the instructions found here:
https://docs.rstudio.com/resources/install-r/ "These instructions describe how to install R from precompiled binaries on a Linux server."

However, these instructions seem incomplete or inaccurate as they do not describe how to run multiple different versions of R. I currently have R 3.5.2 installed to the default (yum) installation location (/usr/bin/R and /usr/bin/Rscript). These instructions install R 3.5.3 (or whatever version) to /usr/local/bin/R and /usr/local/bin/Rscript.

All of my apps work prior to the 'Create a symlink to R' step listed in these instructions: https://docs.rstudio.com/resources/install-r/#create-a-symlink-to-r

As soon as I change those symlinks to point to R 3.5.3 none of the apps load, including the 'test' apps on the default shiny server landing page... although shiny server itself still runs fine. The shiny-server.log file simply states 'Error getting worker: Error: The application exited during initialization.'

I know that my apps work on version 3.5.3 because I test them all on my Mac, running R 3.5.3 before deploying them to the server.

System Information:

  • RStudio Edition: NA
  • RStudio Version: NA
  • OS Version: RHEL/CentOS Linux 7 (Core)
  • R Version: 3.5.2/3.5.3
  • sessionInfo(): NA

Referred here from support.rstudio.com

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