Here the output of traceback() for the first example from ?lmer, 
sessionInfo() at the end.

Sorry for the relatively long example.

Best,
Henrik


require(lme4)
## Loading required package: lme4
## Loading required package: lattice
## Loading required package: Matrix
## Warning message:
## package 'lme4' was built under R version 3.0.1

(fm1 <- lmer(Reaction ~ Days + (Days | Subject), sleepstudy))
## Error in get(name, envir = asNamespace(pkg), inherits = FALSE) :
##   object '.setDummyField' not found

traceback()

12: get(name, envir = asNamespace(pkg), inherits = FALSE)
11: methods:::.setDummyField
10: (function (value)
     {
         if (missing(value))
             `.->X`
         else {
             methods:::.setDummyField(.self, ".->X", "matrix", "X",
                 TRUE, value)
             value
         }
     })(quote(c(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
     5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
     6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
     7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
     8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
     9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
     0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0,
     1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1,
     2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2,
     3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)))
9: .Object$initialize(...)
8: initialize(value, ...)
7: initialize(value, ...)
6: methods::new(def, ...)
5: (function (...)
    {
        methods::new(def, ...)
    })(Zt = <S4 object of class "dgCMatrix">, theta = c(1, 0, 1),
        Lambdat = <S4 object of class "dgCMatrix">, Lind = c(1L,
        2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L,
        2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L,
        2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L,
        2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L), n = 180L, X = c(1, 1, 1,
        1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2,
        3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1,
        2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0,
        1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
        0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
        9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
        8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
        7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
        6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
        5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9))
4: do.call(merPredD$new, c(reTrms[c("Zt", "theta", "Lambdat", "Lind")],
        n = nrow(X), list(X = X)))
3: (function (fr, X, reTrms, REML = TRUE, start = NULL, verbose = 0,
        control = lmerControl(), ...)
    {
        p <- ncol(X)
        rho <- new.env(parent = parent.env(environment()))
        rho$pp <- do.call(merPredD$new, c(reTrms[c("Zt", "theta",
            "Lambdat", "Lind")], n = nrow(X), list(X = X)))
        REMLpass <- if (REML)
            p
        else 0L
        if (missing(fr))
            rho$resp <- mkRespMod(REML = REMLpass, ...)
        else rho$resp <- mkRespMod(fr, REML = REMLpass)
        devfun <- mkdevfun(rho, 0L, verbose, control)
        theta <- getStart(start, reTrms$lower, rho$pp)
        devfun(rho$pp$theta)
        rho$lower <- reTrms$lower
        return(devfun)
    })(fr = list(Reaction = c(249.56, 258.7047, 250.8006, 321.4398,
    356.8519, 414.6901, 382.2038, 290.1486, 430.5853, 466.3535, 222.7339,
    205.2658, 202.9778, 204.707, 207.7161, 215.9618, 213.6303, 217.7272,
    224.2957, 237.3142, 199.0539, 194.3322, 234.32, 232.8416, 229.3074,
    220.4579, 235.4208, 255.7511, 261.0125, 247.5153, 321.5426, 300.4002,
    283.8565, 285.133, 285.7973, 297.5855, 280.2396, 318.2613, 305.3495,
    354.0487, 287.6079, 285, 301.8206, 320.1153, 316.2773, 293.3187,
    290.075, 334.8177, 293.7469, 371.5811, 234.8606, 242.8118, 272.9613,
    309.7688, 317.4629, 309.9976, 454.1619, 346.8311, 330.3003, 253.8644,
    283.8424, 289.555, 276.7693, 299.8097, 297.171, 338.1665, 332.0265,
    348.8399, 333.36, 362.0428, 265.4731, 276.2012, 243.3647, 254.6723,
    279.0244, 284.1912, 305.5248, 331.5229, 335.7469, 377.299, 241.6083,
    273.9472, 254.4907, 270.8021, 251.4519, 254.6362, 245.4523, 235.311,
    235.7541, 237.2466, 312.3666, 313.8058, 291.6112, 346.1222, 365.7324,
    391.8385, 404.2601, 416.6923, 455.8643, 458.9167, 236.1032, 230.3167,
    238.9256, 254.922, 250.7103, 269.7744, 281.5648, 308.102, 336.2806,
    351.6451, 256.2968, 243.4543, 256.2046, 255.5271, 268.9165, 329.7247,
    379.4445, 362.9184, 394.4872, 389.0527, 250.5265, 300.0576, 269.8939,
    280.5891, 271.8274, 304.6336, 287.7466, 266.5955, 321.5418, 347.5655,
    221.6771, 298.1939, 326.8785, 346.8555, 348.7402, 352.8287, 354.4266,
    360.4326, 375.6406, 388.5417, 271.9235, 268.4369, 257.2424, 277.6566,
    314.8222, 317.2135, 298.1353, 348.1229, 340.28, 366.5131, 225.264,
    234.5235, 238.9008, 240.473, 267.5373, 344.1937, 281.1481, 347.5855,
    365.163, 372.2288, 269.8804, 272.4428, 277.8989, 281.7895, 279.1705,
    284.512, 259.2658, 304.6306, 350.7807, 369.4692, 269.4117, 273.474,
    297.5968, 310.6316, 287.1726, 329.6076, 334.4818, 343.2199, 369.1417,
    364.1236), Days = c(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3,
    4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
    5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
    6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
    7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
    8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
    9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
    0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0,
    1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), Subject = 
c(1L,
    1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L,
    2L, 2L, 2L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 4L, 4L, 4L,
    4L, 4L, 4L, 4L, 4L, 4L, 4L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L,
    5L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 7L,
    7L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 9L,
    9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 10L, 10L, 10L, 10L, 10L,
    10L, 10L, 10L, 10L, 10L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L,
    11L, 11L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 13L,
    13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 14L, 14L, 14L, 14L,
    14L, 14L, 14L, 14L, 14L, 14L, 15L, 15L, 15L, 15L, 15L, 15L, 15L,
    15L, 15L, 15L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L,
    17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 18L, 18L, 18L,
    18L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 18L)), X = c(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
    1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
    1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
    1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
    1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
    1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
    1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
    1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
    1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
    1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
    5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
    6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
    7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
    8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
    9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
    0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0,
    1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1,
    2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), reTrms = list(
        Zt = <S4 object of class "dgCMatrix">, theta = c(1, 0, 1),
        Lind = c(1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L,
        1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L,
        1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L,
        1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L), Gp = c(0L,
        36L), lower = c(0, -Inf, 0), Lambdat = <S4 object of class 
"dgCMatrix">,
        flist = list(Subject = c(1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L,
        1L, 1L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 3L, 3L, 3L,
        3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 4L, 4L, 4L, 4L, 4L, 4L, 4L, 4L,
        4L, 4L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 6L, 6L, 6L,
        6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 6L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 7L,
        7L, 7L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 9L, 9L, 9L,
        9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 10L, 10L, 10L, 10L, 10L, 10L,
        10L, 10L, 10L, 10L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L,
        11L, 11L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L, 12L,
        13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 14L, 14L,
        14L, 14L, 14L, 14L, 14L, 14L, 14L, 14L, 15L, 15L, 15L, 15L,
        15L, 15L, 15L, 15L, 15L, 15L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L,
        16L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L,
        17L, 17L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 18L
        )), cnms = list(Subject = c("(Intercept)", "Days"))), REML = TRUE,
        start = NULL, verbose = 0L, control = list(optimizer = 
"Nelder_Mead",
            restart_edge = TRUE, checkControl = list(check.nobs.vs.rankZ 
= "warningSmall",
                check.nobs.vs.nlev = "stop", check.nlev.gtreq.5 = "ignore",
                check.nlev.gtr.1 = "stop"), optCtrl = list()))
2: do.call(mkLmerDevfun, c(lmod, list(start = start, verbose = verbose,
        control = control)))
1: lmer(Reaction ~ Days + (Days | Subject), sleepstudy)


 > sessionInfo()
R version 3.0.0 (2013-04-03)
Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit)

locale:
[1] LC_COLLATE=English_United Kingdom.1252
[2] LC_CTYPE=English_United Kingdom.1252
[3] LC_MONETARY=English_United Kingdom.1252
[4] LC_NUMERIC=C
[5] LC_TIME=English_United Kingdom.1252

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods base

other attached packages:
[1] lme4_1.0-4      Matrix_1.0-12   lattice_0.20-15

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
[1] grid_3.0.0    MASS_7.3-26   minqa_1.2.1   nlme_3.1-109 splines_3.0.0
[6] tools_3.0.0


Douglas Bates schrieb:
> Has the output of
>
> traceback()
>
> after this error been posted?  If not, could you do so?
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 24, 2013 at 12:32 PM, Henrik Singmann 
> <henrik.singmann@psychologie.uni-freiburg.de 
> <mailto:henrik.singmann@psychologie.uni-freiburg.de>> wrote:
>
>     Unfortunately, I have to agree with Joshua Wiley and others that
>     this is not the case.
>
>     I checked it today and the binary version of lme4 1.0-4 from CRAN
>     does not run on R 3.0.0 on my Windows 7 64 bit machine. The error
>     message is the well-known one:
>
>     Error in get(name, envir = asNamespace(pkg), inherits = FALSE) :
>       object '.setDummyField' not found
>
>     Best,
>     Henrik
>
>
>     Am 23.09.2013 11:56, schrieb Martin Maechler:
>
>                             Hufthammer, Karl Ove
>                             <karl.ove.hufthammer@helse-bergen.no
>                             <mailto:karl.ove.hufthammer@helse-bergen.no>>
>                                  on Mon, 23 Sep 2013 08:56:57 +0200
>                             writes:
>
>
>              >> lme4 1.0-4 is on the main part of CRAN now (it has
>              >> propagated at least as far as the Canadian mirror,
>              >> although
>              >> http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lme4/index.html is
>              >> still listing the old MacOS and Windows binaries).
>              >>
>              >> Release notes are most easily accessible at
>              >>
>         https://github.com/lme4/lme4/blob/master/misc/notes/release_notes.md
>
>              > The release notes states that '[t]he binary versions
>              > from the r-forge repository (at least the Windows
>              > version) will (apparently) not work on R version
>              > 3.0.0'. Is this also true of the binary versions from CRAN?
>
>              > -- Karl Ove Hufthammer
>
>         Hopefully not at all:
>         The binary CRAN versions should work well on "current" versions
>         of R.
>         In fact,  lme4/DESCRIPTION   has    " Depends: R (>= 2.14.0) "
>         so new lme4  *should*  work even on such
>         ancient (:-) versions as R 2.14.0.
>
>         Martin
>
>
>     -- 
>     Dipl. Psych. Henrik Singmann
>     PhD Student
>     Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
>     http://www.psychologie.uni-freiburg.de/Members/singmann
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     R-sig-mixed-models@r-project.org
>     <mailto:R-sig-mixed-models@r-project.org> mailing list
>     https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mixed-models
>
>

-- 
Dipl. Psych. Henrik Singmann
PhD Student
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
http://www.psychologie.uni-freiburg.de/Members/singmann


	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

