[R] Problem loading SpareM package

[Richard M. Heiberger]

I have been getting a similar error when I compile my own package.
The message says the problem is in the "methods" package which is
part of R.

* checking S3 generic/method consistency ... WARNING
Error in get(cname, where) : recursive default argument reference
Error: .onLoad failed in 'loadNamespace' for 'methods'
Execution halted
See section 'Generic functions and methods' of the 'Writing R Extensions'
manual.
* checking replacement functions ... OK
* checking foreign function calls ... WARNING
Error in get(cname, where) : recursive default argument reference
Error: .onLoad failed in 'loadNamespace' for 'methods'
Execution halted
See the chapter 'System and foreign language interfaces' of the 'Writing R
Extensions' manual.
* checking R code for possible problems ... OK
* checking Rd files ... OK
* checking Rd cross-references ... OK
* checking for missing documentation entries ... OK
* checking for code/documentation mismatches ... WARNING
Error in get(cname, where) : recursive default argument reference
Error: .onLoad failed in 'loadNamespace' for 'methods'
Execution halted



In a running R session, I tried to detach "methods" and then bring it back
with the following message

> search()
 [1] ".GlobalEnv"        "package:HH"        "package:multcomp" 
 [4] "package:mvtnorm"   "package:grid"      "package:lattice"  
 [7] "package:methods"   "package:stats"     "package:graphics" 
[10] "package:grDevices" "package:utils"     "package:datasets" 
[13] "Autoloads"         "package:base"     
> detach(7)
> library(methods)
Error in identical(pkg, value at package) : formal classes cannot be used without the methods package
Error: .onAttach failed in 'attachNamespace'
Error: package/namespace load failed for 'methods'
>