[R] Installing packages

[Marc Schwartz]

On Thu, 2003-11-13 at 12:18, Nathan Leon Pace, MD, MStat wrote:
> Running under Redhat 7.3 Linux I have installed R Version 1.8.0  
> (2003-10-08) from a binary download using the rpm manager.
> 
> Using packageStatus(), I am attempted to upgrade several packages.
> 
> This is unsuccessful with the following error messages:
> 
> * Installing *source* package 'MASS' ...
> ** libs
> gcc -I/usr/lib/R/include  -I/usr/local/include -D__NO_MATH_INLINES 
> -mieee-fp  -fPIC  -O2 -m486 -fno-strength-reduce -g -c MASS.c -o MASS.o
> gcc: installation problem, cannot exec `cpp0': No such file or directory
> make: *** [MASS.o] Error 1
> ERROR: compilation failed for package 'MASS'
> 
> gcc version 2.96 20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.3 2.96-113) is installed.
> 
> I have checked the R archives and FAQ and admin manual for help.
> 
> My knowledge of c compiling is limited.
> 
> Any pointers for debugging this problem would be appreciated.
> 
> Nathan


Not sure if you have received any other replies yet, but it appears that
you may be getting bitten by the infamous Red Hat 7.x gcc 2.96 problem.
Without getting into details, this is a known issue with this version of
gcc that was improperly released by RH.

The "official" note on this issue from gnu.org is here:

http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-2.96.html

To my knowledge RH released updates to that version, but I believe that
the only "real" fix is to either revert to gcc 2.95.x or upgrade to a
version 3.x series release.

Martyn Plummer, the RH maintainer for R may have more detailed
information on this and I am cc'ing him on this reply.

HTH,

Marc Schwartz