[R-sig-Debian] Configure error: checking if libcurl supports https... no

[Dirk Eddelbuettel]

Rolf,

Asking here is the Right Thing (TM) but I am in at this moment between two
differen things (one of them being dinner...) so I have to come back to this
but regarding

> Package libcurl-dev is a virtual package provided by:
>   libcurl4-openssl-dev 7.68.0-1ubuntu2.6
>   libcurl4-nss-dev 7.68.0-1ubuntu2.6
>   libcurl4-gnutls-dev 7.68.0-1ubuntu2.6
> You should explicitly select one to install.

I have also found that confusing. I somewhat recently helped a very motivated
undergrad getting an R package working which required a (available for
Ubuntu, good thing there) library which itself libcurl4-gnutls-dev. I happen
to have libcurl4-openssl-dev installed and they don't coexist ... so I opted
to doing that work with the undergrad in a Docker environment.

Long story short, I would suggest trying to see if you can work with / can
get what you need adjusted to libcurl4-openssl-dev.   On my Ubuntu (21.04)
system:

  edd using rob:~$ apt-cache rdepends libcurl4-openssl-dev | wc -l
  22
  edd using rob:~$ apt-cache rdepends libcurl4-gnutls-dev | wc -l
  45
  edd using rob:~$

So maybe my preference is on the wrong side of the tracks too. I don't fully
understand why these cannot coexist...

Dirk

-- 
https://dirk.eddelbuettel.com | @eddelbuettel | edd using debian.org