[R-sig-Geo] no proj_defs.dat file in PROJ.4 files message when using rgdal

[Wall, Wade A ERDC-RDE-CERL-IL CIV]

Hi all,

I am using R on a high performance Linux cluster and had to build gdal, proj4 (version 4.9.2), and rgdal from source. I had to install proj.4 in a non-standard location (/p/bin/proj4) and this appears to be causing some problems.

I modified my $PATH variable to include /p/bin/proj4; /p/bin/proj4/lib;/p/bin/proj4/share/proj

I installed rgdal using the following command

Install.packages("rgdal",configure.args = c("--with-project-include=/p/bin/proj4/include","--with-proj-lib=/p/bin/proj4/lib","--with-proj-share=/p/bin/proj4/share/proj"))

When I load rgdal, the path to gdal is displayed, but the path to proj4 says "(autodetected)". 

However, I receive the message "rgdal::checkCRSArgs:: no proj_defs.dat in PROJ.4 shared files" when I try to use the raster() function from the raster package.

I have verified that proj_def.dat is in /p/bin/proj4/share/proj. I have also tried placing it in other locations.

Any suggestions on how  I can get rgdal to find the proj_def.dat file(s)?  

Wade