[R-sig-Debian] Hardy 64 bit and Package Support

[Michael Rutter]

Josh,

You have stumbled on the "so many R packages, no way we can turn them 
all into Ubuntu packages" problem.  In general, you should be able to 
compile packages with the install.packages commands.  However, some 
packages utilize other libraries that are not needed by the core R 
program.  In your case, it is the GDAL library.

The solution to this problem is the following line:

 > ./configure: line 1311: gdal-config: command not found

The trick is to find what Ubuntu package contains that file.  A useful 
website is http://packages.ubuntu.com/.  On that page there is a "Search 
the contents of packages" section, and putting in gdal-config reveals 
that the needed package is libgdal1-dev.  A 'sudo apt-get install 
libgdal1-dev' will download about 20 mb worth of ubuntu packages, but 
you should now be able to install the rgdal package (at least I was 
able).  Note, you will need to start a fresh R session to install the 
rgdal package after updating hardy.

Hope this helps,
Michael

Josh Harmsen wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> Not a new R user, but new to R with Linux, specifically Ubuntu Hardy
> Heron 8.04 64bit.
> 
> I have had success installing common packages using the typical R
> interface (in Linux), but have had problems installing less common
> packages like (rgdal) and (RSAGA) that are not loaded with R.  I'm
> wondering if there are any tricks to these libraries that won't
> install, from reading the errors it looks like I need to
> add/edit/create some directories?
> 
> I get this error when I try to install (rgdal)
> 
>> install.packages()
> --- Please select a CRAN mirror for use in this session ---
> Loading Tcl/Tk interface ... done
> Warning in install.packages() :
>   argument 'lib' is missing: using
> '/home/josh/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/2.7'
> trying URL 'http://cran.cnr.Berkeley.edu/src/contrib/rgdal_0.5-26.tar.gz'
> Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 4430424 bytes (4.2 Mb)
> opened URL
> ==================================================
> downloaded 4.2 Mb
> 
> * Installing *source* package 'rgdal' ...
> gdal-config: gdal-config
> ./configure: line 1311: gdal-config: command not found
> 
> The gdal-config script distributed with GDAL could not be found.
> If you have not installed the GDAL libraries, you can
> download the source from  http://www.gdal.org/
> If you have installed the GDAL libraries, then make sure that
> gdal-config is in your path. Try typing gdal-config at a
> shell prompt and see if it runs. If not, use:
>  --configure-args='--with-gdal-config=/usr/local/bin/gdal-config' echo
> with appropriate values for your installation.
> 
> ERROR: configuration failed for package 'rgdal'
> ** Removing '/home/josh/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/2.7/rgdal'
> ** Restoring previous '/home/josh/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/2.7/rgdal'
> 
> The downloaded packages are in
> 	/tmp/RtmplzwwUl/downloaded_packages
> Warning message:
> In install.packages() :
>   installation of package 'rgdal' had non-zero exit status
>> update.packages(lib.loc = "/usr/local/lib/R/site-library")
>> install.packages(rgdal)
> Error in install.packages(rgdal) : object "rgdal" not found
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Josh
> 
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-- 
Dr. Michael A. Rutter
School of Science
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Station Road
Erie, PA 16563
http://math.bd.psu.edu/faculty/rutter