[Rd] R 2.1.0 (beta) on IRIX

[Martyn Plummer]

I'm trying to compile R-beta on IRIX using the native MipsPro 7.4
compilers, without great satisfaction.  A list of problems is given
below, and any advice on solving them is appreciated.

Martyn

Configuration:
-------------

Here are the configuration options I am using

./configure CC=cc CXX=CC F77=f77 CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/freeware/include"
LDFLAGS="-L/usr/freeware/lib32" CFLAGS="-g -O2" CXXFLAGS="-g -O2"
FFLAGS="-g -O2"

The CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS are required for readline and NLS capabilities.
The compilers are not optimized by default so you need to supply the
relevant flags.

Major problems:
--------------

1) inline function in src/extra/bzip2

The function BZ2_indexIntoF is declared inline in bzlib.c and extern in
bzlib_private.h.  The linker claims that the symbol is undefined.

This can be solved by removing the R_INLINE keyword.  I can't see
another solution, and reading these guidelines on inlining
( http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2003/03/inline.html ) leaves me no
wiser.

2) IEEE arithmetic

The standalone math library fails to compile, as the compiler chokes on
the definition of ML_POSINF, ML_NEGINF and ML_NAN, e.g.

> cc-1195 cc: ERROR File = mlutils.c, Line = 130
>   The indicated floating-point operation result is out of range.
> 
>   double NA_REAL = ML_NAN;

where ML_NAN is defined as (0.0 / 0.0)  in nmath.h.  The compiler flag
 -OPT:IEEE_NaN_inf=ON is supposed to enforce IEEE arithmetic but
apparently isn't enough.

Minor problems
--------------

3) Make
IRIX make does not like continuation lines followed only by a comment.
So, for example, these lines from src/appl/Makefile.in

OBJECTS = $(SOURCES_C:.c=.o) $(SOURCES_F:.f=.o)\
@USE_EXTERNAL_BLAS_FALSE@ blas.o @COMPILE_DOUBLE_COMPLEX_FALSE@ zgemm.o

which become

OBJECTS = $(SOURCES_C:.c=.o) $(SOURCES_F:.f=.o) \
# blas.o  zgemm.o

in the Makefile, cause an error.  I have worked around this by joining
the two lines, but the problem recurs several times in the tests
directory.  I shall probably fall back on gmake.

4) Building in a setgid directory

This isn't an IRIX-specific problem.  The administrators provide some
"scratch" space for temporary files in a setgid directory and I started
building R here.   All files have the group "sys" of which ordinary
users are not members.  This causes some difficulty with the
installation of files in src/library/<libname>/inst/po.  I can't give
the exact error message as I have accidentally deleted the file in which
I was making notes, but it's an ownership problem.

5) strptime

The problem with strptime documented in the R-admin manual is still
present on this system (release 6.5.27), although it is supposed to have
been solved in release 6.5.22m.  Briefly, is.na fails to recognize a
valid POSIX time:

> strptime("1910/1/1", "%Y/%m/%d")
[1] "1910-01-01"
> is.na(strptime("1910/1/1", "%Y/%m/%d"))
[1] TRUE

I have not tried the suggested work-around yet.