[R] ./configure: /bin/sh: bad interpreter: Permission denied

[Marc Schwartz (via MN)]

On Mon, 2005-11-21 at 09:01 -0800, Dhruti Ramani wrote:
> I am trying to install R1.8. When I use "make" to build R, it gives me following error,
> 
> * Installing *source* package 'foreign' ...
> /usr/local/bin/R-1.8.1/bin/INSTALL: ./configure: /bin/sh: bad interpreter: Permission denied
> ERROR: configuration failed for package 'foreign'
> ** Removing '/usr/local/bin/R-1.8.1/library/foreign'
> make[2]: *** [foreign.ts] Error 1
> make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/bin/R-1.8.1/src/library/Recommended'
> make[1]: *** [recommended-packages] Error 2
> make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/bin/R-1.8.1/src/library/Recommended'
> make: *** [stamp-recommended] Error 2
> 
> 
> Am I doing something wrong here? I am installing as root.
> 
> Thanks,
> Denna

First, you are trying to install a version of R (1.8.1) that is two
years old today.

I would suggest getting either the current release version tarball for
2.2.0, or better would be the R 2.2.0 patched version.

The former is available from your local CRAN mirror, the latter is
available at:

  ftp://ftp.stat.math.ethz.ch/Software/R/R-patched.tar.gz

I would try to install using a current version of R first to see if the
error is still present.

If it is, then you may have an access/permission issue with /tmp. Review
sections 2.1 and 5.1 in the R Admin Manual regarding /tmp and the TMPDIR
environment variable for more information.

HTH,

Marc Schwartz