[R] building packages on Windows

[Gabor Grothendieck]

On 7/11/05, Duncan Murdoch <murdoch at stats.uwo.ca> wrote:
> On 7/11/2005 3:21 PM, Sundar Dorai-Raj wrote:
> > Hi, all,
> >
> > I just recently upgraded my computer though I'm using the same OS (XP).
> > But now I'm having difficulty building packages and I cannot seem to
> > solve the problem. I'm using R-2.1.1pat on Windows XP.
> >
> > Here is what I tried:
> >
> > D:\Users\sundard\slib\sundar\R>R CMD CHECK sundar
> > * checking for working latex ... OK
> > * using log directory 'D:/Users/sundard/slib/sundar/R/sundar.Rcheck'
> > * using R version 2.1.1, 2005-06-21
> > * checking for file 'sundar/DESCRIPTION' ... OK
> > * this is package 'sundar' version '1.1'
> > * checking if this is a source package ... OK
> >
> > installing R.css in D:/Users/sundard/slib/sundar/R/sundar.Rcheck
> >
> >
> > ---------- Making package sundar ------------
> >    adding build stamp to DESCRIPTION
> >    installing NAMESPACE file and metadata
> > Error in file(file, "r") : unable to open connection
> > In addition: Warning message:
> > cannot open file
> > 'D:/Users/sundard/slib/sundar/R/sundar.Rcheck/sundar/NAMESPACE'
> >
> > Execution halted
> > make[2]: *** [nmspace] Error 1
> > make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
> > make: *** [pkg-sundar] Error 2
> > *** Installation of sundar failed ***
> >
> > Removing 'D:/Users/sundard/slib/sundar/R/sundar.Rcheck/sundar'
> >   ERROR
> > Installation failed.
> >
> > I've also tried to remove the NAMESPACE which then passes `check' but
> > fails on `build' with the following:
> >
> > * checking for file 'sundar/DESCRIPTION' ... OK
> > * preparing 'sundar':
> > * checking DESCRIPTION meta-information ... OK
> > * removing junk files
> > Error: cannot open file 'sundar/DESCRIPTION' for reading
> >
> > If this is relevant, here is my PATH:
> > C:\WINDOWS\system32;
> > C:\WINDOWS;
> > .;
> > D:\R\rw2011pat\bin;
> > D:\R\tools\bin;
> > D:\Perl\bin;
> > D:\Tcl\bin;
> > D:\TeXLive\bin\win32;
> > D:\Mingw\bin;
> > C:\Program Files\Insightful\splus62\cmd;
> > C:\Program Files\HTML Help Workshop
> >
> > Here, the D:\R\tools\bin directory contains the utilities for building R
> > from source, downloaded today. Am I missing something obvious?
> 
> Yes, you need to put the Windows directories later in your path.  There
> are some programs in the toolset which have like-named commands in
> Windows; you need to use ours, not theirs.
> 
> There are other differences between your path and the one recommended in
> the Admin and Installation manual; they may also be causing problems.

In 
    http://cran.r-project.org/contrib/extra/batchfiles/ 

there is a batch file called Rfind.bat that searches your system and lists 
the paths of the various tools used by R.  It does not actually change 
any environment variables nor does it change any other aspect of your 
system -- its display only so its generally safe to run.

This might help you in configuration.