Install Quarto#

Quarto is an open-source scientific and technical publishing system built on Pandoc, and allows users to create dynamic content with Python, R, Julia, and Observable. Additional information about Quarto is available at https://quarto.org/.

These instructions describe how to install Quarto on a Linux server. All available Quarto versions can be found at https://quarto.org/docs/download/.

Use bundled Quarto#

A Quarto executable is bundled with Posit Workbench in RStudio Pro 2022.07.1+554 and later in the following directory:

/usr/lib/rstudio-server/bin/quarto/bin/quarto

RStudio users will have Quarto available by default for the RStudio UI, at the R console, and in the integrated terminal. The following installation instructions are only necessary to:

• Upgrade Quarto out of sync with upgrades to Posit Workbench/RStudio Pro
• Make Quarto available for VS Code or JupyterLab sessions

Installation methods#

Posit recommends two methods of installing Quarto (select one of the following links to navigate to the corresponding section, or read on for the differences between the methods):

Install Quarto using .tar.gz file:

• To install multiple versions simultaneously, you must install Quarto using .tar.gz files. This installs Quarto to a non-standard location, so you must create a symbolic link to make the quarto command available to users. Some use cases in Posit's professional products may require multiple versions of Quarto.

Install Quarto using .deb file:

• Installing Quarto from a .deb file places the quarto binary at the default location. This method only supports installing a single version to the default location. You can specify a version, or easily install the latest version.

  Important

  This installation method only works on Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions. For other Linux environments, you should install Quarto from .tar.gz.

Quarto .tar.gz file install#

These instructions install Quarto from release archives (i.e., .tar.gz files), which lets you install it to a custom location. This makes it possible to install multiple versions concurrently. However:

• You need to add a symlink to an installed version if you wish to have Quarto available on the command line as quarto.
• If you don't need to support multiple versions, you can also install Quarto from a .deb file.

Specify Quarto version#

Review the list of available Quarto versions: https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/releases/.

Now, set the QUARTO_VERSION environment variable to the version number you wish to install:

$ export QUARTO_VERSION="1.4.551"

Download and install Quarto using .tar.gz file#

Download and install the version of Quarto specified in QUARTO_VERSION:

$ sudo mkdir -p /opt/quarto/${QUARTO_VERSION}

$ sudo curl -o quarto.tar.gz -L \
    "https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/releases/download/v${QUARTO_VERSION}/quarto-${QUARTO_VERSION}-linux-amd64.tar.gz"

$ sudo tar -zxvf quarto.tar.gz \
    -C "/opt/quarto/${QUARTO_VERSION}" \
    --strip-components=1

$ sudo rm quarto.tar.gz

"https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/releases/download/v${QUARTO_VERSION}/quarto-${QUARTO_VERSION}-linux-rhel7-amd64.tar.gz"

Verify Quarto installation#

Verify that your Quarto installation was successful:

$ /opt/quarto/"${QUARTO_VERSION}"/bin/quarto check

(Optional) Add symlink for Quarto#

Applicable to Workbench, only. Not required for Connect.

• Installing Quarto from the .tar.gz file using these instructions places the executable in a location that is not on the default system PATH variable.

• If you need the quarto command to be available to your users — for instance, if you are installing Quarto on Workbench — you need to create a symbolic link from a location on the system PATH to an installed Quarto executable:

  Terminal

  $ sudo ln -s /opt/quarto/${QUARTO_VERSION}/bin/quarto /usr/local/bin/quarto
  

(Optional) Make Quarto available for Python editors#

In Workbench, RStudio Pro sessions have Quarto available by default. To use Quarto in VSCode or JupyterLab, you will need to either symlink or install Quarto into a location on the PATH for those editors.

# If using the default Quarto bundled with RStudio Pro
$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib/rstudio-server/bin/quarto/bin/quarto /usr/local/bin/quarto

# If you have installed a non-default Quarto 
# from a .tar.gz using the above instructions
$ sudo ln -s /opt/quarto/${QUARTO_VERSION}/bin/quarto /usr/local/bin/quarto

(Optional) Install multiple versions of Quarto#

To install multiple versions of Quarto on the same server, repeat the steps above, setting QUARTO_VERSION to a different version number each time.

This:

• Places different versions of Quarto in parallel folders.
• Allows you to support multiple Quarto versions in some of Posit's professional products.

Connect example#

If you installed Quarto1.1.189, 1.2.475, and 1.3.450 to a Connect server, then you may configure Connect with all three versions of Quarto by providing multiple Executable options to the Quarto section of Connect's configuration file.

[Quarto]
Enabled = true
Executable = "/opt/quarto/1.1.189/bin/quarto"
Executable = "/opt/quarto/1.2.475/bin/quarto"
Executable = "/opt/quarto/1.3.450/bin/quarto"

Quarto .deb file install#

In an environment where you intend to only maintain a single installation of Quarto, you can install Quarto from a .deb file. This places the quarto binary at the default location, /usr/local/bin/quarto, which automatically makes the quarto command available on the default PATH.

Download and install Quarto using .deb file#

Optionally, download a specific Quarto version, or download the latest version.

Download:

$ export QUARTO_VERSION="1.4.551"

$ sudo curl -o quarto-linux-amd64.deb -L https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/releases/download/v${QUARTO_VERSION}/quarto-${QUARTO_VERSION}-linux-amd64.deb

$ sudo curl -LO https://quarto.org/download/latest/quarto-linux-amd64.deb

Install:

Install Quarto by running (you may need to install gdebi first):

$ sudo apt-get install gdebi-core
$ sudo gdebi quarto-linux-amd64.deb

Verify Quarto installation#

Verify that your Quarto installation was successful:

$ /usr/local/bin/quarto check

Additional resources#

Configuring Quarto with Connect#

Quarto must be installed on your system before configuring Connect to allow support for Quarto content. Complete the installation procedures above and then review the following sections of the Posit Connect Admin Guide:

• Quarto
• Enabling Quarto Support