[R-SIG-Mac] source() command and HTTPS urls in R-3.2.2 beta

[Dan Tenenbaum]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "peter dalgaard" <pdalgd at gmail.com>
> To: "Dan Tenenbaum" <dtenenba at fredhutch.org>
> Cc: "r-sig-mac" <r-sig-mac at r-project.org>
> Sent: Thursday, August 6, 2015 1:56:14 PM
> Subject: Re: [R-SIG-Mac] source() command and HTTPS urls in R-3.2.2 beta
> 
> 
> > On 06 Aug 2015, at 22:03 , Dan Tenenbaum <dtenenba at fredhutch.org>
> > wrote:
> > 
> >>> This is the CRAN binary build of R-3.2.2 beta for Snow Leopard.
> >>> 
> >>> I thought https urls were supposed to be supported in this
> >>> version?
> >>> The same command works in the same version of R on linux,
> >>> windows,
> >>> and Mavericks (albeit with a message on Mavericks and Linux
> >>> saying
> >>> 'https:// URLs are not supported by the default method: trying
> >>> "libcurl"').
> >>> 
> >>> Maybe a misconfiguration in the way that the binary was built for
> >>> Snow Leopard?
> >> 
> >> What does capabilities() say about libcurl?
> >> 
> > 
> > FALSE.
> > Dan
> 
> That'll explain it. It can't try libcurl if it isn't there.
> 
> However, the Snow Leopard builds are being phased out (check out the
> note on https://cran.r-project.org/bin/macosx/). It is not obvious
> (to say the least) that there will be a 3.2.2 version - the "3.2.2
> beta" may just exist due to inertia.
> 
> I don't quite know the specifics, but I think the underlying issue is
> that it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep a build system
> running and updated on an OS that isn't even supported by Apple any
> more. There have been some silliness with linking libcurl on OS X,
> which makes it even less attractive to mess with the build setup.
> 
> Of course, nothing is keeping you from making your own local build,
> perhaps using homebrew...
> 

I maintain the bioconductor build system and we need to use the CRAN binaries, otherwise the binary packages we produce would not be usable by most people.

I understand that Snow Leopard is being phased out. However, this does mean that any package that relies on libcurl will fail on Snow Leopard (using the CRAN R binary) and so will all its reverse dependencies. 

Simon, do you have any thoughts on this? I know Snow Leopard is limping off into the sunset but I hope it can do so more gracefully. ;-)

Dan





> -pd
> 
> --
> Peter Dalgaard, Professor,
> Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School
> Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
> Phone: (+45)38153501
> Email: pd.mes at cbs.dk  Priv: PDalgd at gmail.com
> 
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