[R] (no subject)

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004, W. Beldman wrote:

> Recently I tried to install a package in R version 1.8.1 for Windows. First I 
> un".tar.gz"ed it and ".zip"ed it back in to be able to use the option Install 
> package(s) from local zip files...

So it was not a binary package, but a source package?  No wonder it
failed.  Please let us know from which document you got the idea that your
procedure would produce a valid package, so we can correct it.

> Unfortunately tis error message appeared:
> Error in unpackPkg(pkgs[i], pkgnames[i], lib, installWithVers) : 
>          Malformed bundle DESCRIPTION file, no Contains field

Note `Bundle' here.  Your file format is completely wrong.

> It's correct that the DESCRIPTION file does not have a Contains field, but I 
> can't figure out why it's mandatory and what values it may contain. The manual 
> Writing R Extensions doesn't even mention this field in paragraph 1.1.1
> 
> Any clues how I can make this package running? 
> Note that it's not CRAN but self written, but as I'm told it have worked before 
> (probably in a Linux environment).

You have to INSTALL source packages even on Windows: it is all explained 
in the rw-FAQ.

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595