[R-sig-Fedora] Cannot install broom package

[Tom Callaway]

On 03/22/2018 05:11 PM, xbr17 at posteo.de wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I've problems installing several packages in my R on Fedora 27 64 bit. I
> found out that it has to do something with a missing  compiler
> (libgfortran.so.3, see below).
> It works if I downgrade the current version of libgfortran to the
> specified version by downloading libgfortran-6.2.1-2.fc25.x86_64.rpm and
> manually installing it.
> However, I don't want to mess up my system, because the current version
> of libgfortran is replaced by it.
> 
> Is there any other solution to my problem? Can I use e.g. "broom" (see
> below) without having to downgrade libgfortran?
> 
> Thanks! Cheers
> Hans
> 
> 
> 
>> install.packages("broom")
> Installing package into ‘/home/hans/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.4’
> (as ‘lib’ is unspecified)
> versuche URL 'https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/broom_0.4.3.tar.gz'
> Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 1397648 bytes (1.3 MB)
> ==================================================
> downloaded 1.3 MB
> 
> * installing *source* package ‘broom’ ...
> ** Paket ‘broom’ erfolgreich entpackt und MD5 Summen überprüft
> ** R
> ** inst
> ** preparing package for lazy loading
> Error : .onLoad failed in loadNamespace() for 'mnormt', details:
>   call: dyn.load(file, DLLpath = DLLpath, ...)
>   error: kann shared object
> '/home/hans/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.4/mnormt/libs/mnormt.so'
> nicht laden:
>   libgfortran.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or
> directory

The error above usually occurs when you build a module from CRAN (in
this case, mnormt) at one point in time, then upgrade Fedora. Because
modules built from source and installed via CRAN tools aren't tracked by
Fedora, Fedora doesn't realize that upgrading libgfortran will break them.

I believe the fix should be as simple as running (in R):

install.packages('mnormt')

This should built it again from source, and link the module against the
current libgfortran library, replacing the copy that you'd built before.
It may result in a newer build of mnormt getting installed, so be aware.

hth,

~tom