[R-SIG-Mac] Using LAPACK/BLAS with downloaded binary

[Douglas Bates]

On 5/11/06, Rafael Kaufmann Nedal [Bill] <rafael.kaufmann at gmail.com> wrote:
> This is my first post on the list. I searched through the archives and
> didn't find anything up-to-date on this subject, so I figured I should
> ask.

Thanks for checking.

> I'm trying to run someone else's code that uses a LAPACK routine,
> using the downloaded R binary. Is it possible, or do I have to
> download the sources and make using the --with-blas="-framework
> vecLib" option?

The best way to do this is to create a package from the code and
include in the src directory a file called Makevars with the line

PKG_LIBS = $(LAPACK_LIBS) $(BLAS_LIBS)

See section 1.2.1 of the manual "Writing R Extensions" on any of the CRAN sites.

> By the way, I haven't figured out how the business of LAPACK driver
> routines works, nor have I found a direct explanation anywhere. Could
> somebody enlighten me?

By the LAPACK driver routines do you mean the C functions that are
called by R functions like `svd'?  It is neither easy nor necessary to
understand how those work if you only want to call Lapack from
compiled code in a package.  Those C functions are difficult to
understand because they must allow for internal or external Lapack and
BLAS libraries.  In the case of code that will be compiled in a
package all that needs to be done is to link it against the correct
library at compile time, which is a much easier process.

> Thanks in advance,
>
> -- Rafael Kaufmann
> Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
>
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