Thanks for the idea Rolf, it helped me isolate the cause. FWIW I still 
wanted to get the automatic dependencies check that install.packages() 
provides - an incredibly powerful incentive.

I found the following workaround to be effective for me.

repos = getOptions("repos")
repos["CRAN"] = "http://cran.r-project.org";
#and then install each package one by one, just to figure out any 
external dependencies:
install.packages( "x", repo=repos)

It turns out I had to install both gcc and fortran, but using zypper 
that was easy.

Regards
Dinesh

On 8/17/2011 3:08 AM, Rolf Turner wrote:
>
> I don't know from OpenSuse, but your R CMD INSTALL syntax doesn't
> look right to me.  It certainly wouldn't be right under Ubuntu.
>
> What I would do under Ubuntu is:
>
>     * download the package from CRAN; this is in the form of a gzipped
>     tar file ``fImport_2110.79.tar.gz''.
>
>     * R CMD INSTALL fImport_2110.79.tar.gz -l Rlib
>
> where Rlib is the name of the directory where I keep my personal
> library of R packages.  (So there is no ``sudo'' required.)
>
> This doesn't actually work; it squawks about needing the timeDate and
> timeSeries packages --- which I don't have.  So you need to download
> the source for these:  timeDate_2130.93.tar.gz and  
> timeSeries_2130.92.tar.gz.
>
> Then do the R CMD INSTALL bizzo for these two.  You need to do 
> timeDate first.
>
> There appears to be no compiling of code involved, so you don't need 
> gcc --- yet.
> But you undoubtedly will very soon, so you might as well get it 
> installed.
>
> HTH.
>
>     cheers,
>
>         Rolf Turner
>
> On 17/08/11 06:38, Dinesh wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am trying to install a bunch of packages via command line and can use
>> some help in getting it right. My env is a freshly setup OpenSuse 11.4
>> on an amd desktop. I have not yet installed gcc (Will I need gcc to
>> install packages? I have installed make, assuming R might need it.). I
>> have tried it both under R2.12 and R2.13. I have a list of packages to
>> install such as fImport, fGarch, zoo, and several more. I am logged in
>> as root because I want the packages to be visible to all users
>>
>> a) R CMD INSTALL "fImport"
>> This produces no results.
>>
>> b) sudo R CMD INSTALL "fImport"
>> This downloads timeDate and gets stuck there. (I did sudo based on my
>> experience on Win7 where I had to start R as administrator to update the
>> common package library regardless of how I was logged in.)
>>
>> c) R
>> then,
>> install.packages( "fImport", repo=|"http://cran.r-project.org" );
>> If I executed via command "R" then it furnishes a listbox of mirrors, I
>> select a mirror and then it hangs. If I executed via command "sudo R"
>> then it furnishes a 24x80 style (not tk) list of choices, I select a
>> mirror and then it hangs.
>>
>> I will appreciate your help in figuring this out. Ideally,  I would
>> ideally to run R CMD INSTALL or R CMD BATCH with a short command file so
>> that I can configure a new machine via a script.
>>
>> I also tried to download the tarballs - but then figuring out all the
>> dependencies gets very messy. Besides, that would be, like, reinventing
>> the wheel!
>>
>> |--
>

-- 

Regards,
Dinesh K. Somani
--
/Improving Your Odds/


	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

