[R] cannot compile R with readline

[Martin Ivanov]

Hello,
I am trying to install R-3.4.1 on a linux cluster.  I always get the following error message:
checking readline/history.h usability... yes
checking readline/history.h presence... yes
checking for readline/history.h... yes
checking readline/readline.h usability... yes
checking readline/readline.h presence... yes
checking for readline/readline.h... yes
checking for rl_callback_read_char in -lreadline... no
checking for main in -lncurses... no
checking for main in -ltermcap... no
checking for main in -ltermlib... no
checking for rl_callback_read_char in -lreadline... no
configure: error: --with-readline=yes (default) and headers/libs are not available

As you can see, the R configure script finds the header files, but something happens with the rl_callback_read_char. Here is more info on this from the config.log:
configure:22995: checking for rl_callback_read_char in -lreadline
configure:23020: mpicc -g -o conftest -O2 -fPIC -I/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/include -I/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/include/readline -I/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/include -I/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/include/readline -L/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/lib64 -L/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/lib64 conftest.c -lreadline   >&5
/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/lib64/libreadline.so: undefined reference to `PC'
/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/lib64/libreadline.so: undefined reference to `tgetflag'
/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/lib64/libreadline.so: undefined reference to `tgetent'
/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/lib64/libreadline.so: undefined reference to `UP'
/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/lib64/libreadline.so: undefined reference to `tputs'
/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/lib64/libreadline.so: undefined reference to `tgoto'
/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/lib64/libreadline.so: undefined reference to `tgetnum'
/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/lib64/libreadline.so: undefined reference to `BC'
/home/giessen/ivanov/build/packages/usr/lib64/libreadline.so: undefined reference to `tgetstr'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

I have the readline-6.3 library installed. I compiled it from source, so nothing should be missing. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Best regards,
Martin