[Rd] compiling R from source with a catch!

[Anwar Ludin]

I need to rebuild an R interpreter for the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor which can be considered as an embedded system.

My only option is to use the intel compiler tools and cross compile the interpreter. My first stumbling block is that I don't have a fortran cross compiler and I would like to know if it's possible to build a minimal R system
without the need of a  fortran compiler. 

At the moment I've used the following options with the configure script:

./configure --host=x86_64 --enable-R-static-lib CXX=icpc CC=icc CFLAGS=-mmic CXXFLAGS=-mmic LDFLAGS=-mmic --with-readline=no --without-recommended-packages

icpc and icc are the intel compilers.
-mmic tells the compiler to cross compile for the Intel Xeon Phi.

The configure script stops with the following error:

checking for dummy main to link with Fortran 77 libraries... none
checking for Fortran 77 name-mangling scheme... unknown
configure: WARNING: unknown Fortran name-mangling scheme
checking whether gfortran appends underscores to external names... unknown
configure: error: cannot use Fortran

Do I actually need Fortran in order to build the R interpreter?

Any suggestions on how to move forwards would be greatly appreciated!