[R-sig-Debian] r-base-dev not installing in Ubuntu 16.04

[Michael Rutter]

On 06/13/2018 04:23 PM, Dirk Eddelbuettel wrote:
> 
> On 13 June 2018 at 20:54, Robin Lovelace wrote:
> | I have recently re-installed R on my Ubuntu system to get R 3.5 and found
> | this to have worked:
> |
> | # you may need to remove incumbent repos e.g. with:
> | sudo apt-add-repository --remove ppa:marutter/rrutter
> |
> | # add new repos
> | sudo apt-add-repository ppa:marutter/rrutter3.5 # for base R
> | sudo apt-add-repository ppa:marutter/c2d4u4.5  # for pkgs - this saved me
> | lots of time installing my set-up
> 
> *Very* good point.  Given that what Michael does is outside of the distro, we
>   are lacking some bells and whistles -- and moreover some check and balances
>   I get thrown at me from within the distro and its quality checks.
> 
> So one thing we had run into was inconsistent versioning  so the "old" PPAs
> may have shadowed the new one with the dh-r version wanted -- but 'hidden'
> behind a higher version number. (This can happens as the version strings get
> expanded with Ubuntu distro strings added etc pp).
> 
> So an implicit "reset" by only looking at one pair is a very good ides,
> 
> |
> | At the end of it these are the only R-related repos I have:
> |
> | apt policy | grep 3.5
> |
> | # 500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/marutter/rrutter3.5/ubuntu xenial/main i386
> | Packages
> | #     release
> | v=16.04,o=LP-PPA-marutter-rrutter3.5,a=xenial,n=xenial,l=RRutter
> | v3.5,c=main,b=i386
> | # 500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/marutter/rrutter3.5/ubuntu xenial/main amd64
> | Packages
> | #     release
> | v=16.04,o=LP-PPA-marutter-rrutter3.5,a=xenial,n=xenial,l=RRutter
> | v3.5,c=main,b=amd64
> | # 500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/marutter/c2d4u3.5/ubuntu xenial/main i386
> | Packages
> | #     release
> | v=16.04,o=LP-PPA-marutter-c2d4u3.5,a=xenial,n=xenial,l=cran2deb4ubuntu_3.5,c=main,b=i386
> | # 500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/marutter/c2d4u3.5/ubuntu xenial/main amd64
> | Packages
> | #     release
> | v=16.04,o=LP-PPA-marutter-c2d4u3.5,a=xenial,n=xenial,l=cran2deb4ubuntu_3.5,c=main,b=amd64
> |
> | Hope this helps. Please add-to this advice anyone who's more experienced
> | than me in this.
> 
> Now why does a serious man like you still run 16.04 though?  ;-)
>   
> | Thanks to all involved in getting this working and documented.
> 
> Our pleasure.
> 
> Dirk

Just to complete this thread:

- If you are using a CRAN mirror to install R 3.5, there was an error in 
the configuration file that has been fixed.  It should work after the 
next CRAN sync.  This should solve Syed's original problem.

- To confirm Robin's post, regardless of which repository you use to 
install R 3.5, RRutter PPA or CRAN, you need to remove/disable the 3.4 
repositories.  Having both enabled will cause issues.

Michael