Linux installation

[Michael Steinbeck-Reeves]

I have just installed R under Linux and had a tricky time finding out
that I needed to install r-devel as it was not suggested by yum and does
not appear in any of the FAQs. Everything was fine until I tried to
install tseries then I was told in the compiler output that R.h was
missing. Obviously a search on Google proved fruitless and I was forced
to ask on r-help. I am now kicking myself, of course, but wouldn't it be
a useful addition to the R installation FAQs, especially for those not
acquainted with the C compiler output?

Thanks,

Michael
--
------------------------
Michael Steinbeck-Reeves

www.steinbeck-reeves.co.uk

Work   [phone]
Mobile [phone]

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[Marc Schwartz]

on 05/08/2008 10:39 AM Michael Steinbeck-Reeves wrote:

> I have just installed R under Linux and had a tricky time finding out
>  that I needed to install r-devel as it was not suggested by yum and
> does not appear in any of the FAQs. Everything was fine until I tried
> to install tseries then I was told in the compiler output that R.h
> was missing. Obviously a search on Google proved fruitless and I was
> forced to ask on r-help. I am now kicking myself, of course, but
> wouldn't it be a useful addition to the R installation FAQs,
> especially for those not acquainted with the C compiler output?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Michael

The need for the -devel RPMS is referenced in the R Installation and
Administration Manual in Appendix A and Appendix C.

yum won't pick it up because the -devel RPM is not required to run R,
which is the case BTW for most applications installed using yum on RPM
based Linux systems.

yum won't reference 'suggested RPMs', only those actually required to
run an application.

However, if you are going to be doing any compilation of source code
against an RPM installed application, you will need the -devel RPMS,
which contain the required header (.h) files, among other things. Again,
under Linux, that is the case not only with R, but generally all
applications installed in this fashion.

HTH,

Marc Schwartz

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[Sklyar, Oleg (MI London)]

Michael:

1) this IS a wrong list for such questions. You mention r-help, but this
is Rd (developers) and your question is completely unrelated to the
topics of the list!
2) In Linux, any time you want to compile anything against anything and
using binary distributions you need *-devel or *-dev packages depending
on the distribution. Even if it is not mentioned anywhere, it is
actually how all Linux binary distributions are maintained. What those
*-devel contain are actually *.h files.
3) Install R from source and you will have no issues.

Best,

Dr Oleg Sklyar
Technology Group
Man Investments Ltd
[phone]
osklyar@...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-devel-bounces@...
> [mailto:r-devel-bounces@...] On Behalf Of Michael
> Steinbeck-Reeves
> Sent: 08 May 2008 16:39
> To: r-devel@...
> Subject: [Rd] Linux installation
>
> I have just installed R under Linux and had a tricky time
> finding out that I needed to install r-devel as it was not
> suggested by yum and does not appear in any of the FAQs.
> Everything was fine until I tried to install tseries then I
> was told in the compiler output that R.h was missing.
> Obviously a search on Google proved fruitless and I was
> forced to ask on r-help. I am now kicking myself, of course,
> but wouldn't it be a useful addition to the R installation
> FAQs, especially for those not acquainted with the C compiler output?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Michael
> --
> ------------------------
> Michael Steinbeck-Reeves
>
> www.steinbeck-reeves.co.uk
>
> Work   [phone]
> Mobile [phone]
>
> Milton House
> Stratfield Saye
> Berkshire
> RG7 2BT
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel@... mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>

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The contents of this email are for the named addressee(s...{{dropped:22}}

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[Gavin Simpson]

On Fri, 2008-05-09 at 09:20 +0100, Sklyar, Oleg (MI London) wrote:
> Michael:
>
> 1) this IS a wrong list for such questions. You mention r-help, but this
> is Rd (developers) and your question is completely unrelated to the
> topics of the list!

Oleg, the gist of Michael's email was to make a suggestion about an
addition to the R FAQ or installation instructions for R. I don't think
that is inappropriate for this list.

I had already provided Micheal with the solution to his original problem
posted on R-Help. In off-list emails I suggested that Michael provide
his feedback to this list and the R Core Team as he had found it
difficult to understand his error and wanted to contribute a suggestion
for improvement. Apologies to the list if my suggestion was in error.

In doing so, however, Michael (and I indirectly) was directed to where
this *is* documented in the R Admin and Installation manual by Marc
Schwartz - so, as so often the case, R Core had already thought of and
implemented Michael's suggestion.

> 2) In Linux, any time you want to compile anything against anything and
> using binary distributions you need *-devel or *-dev packages depending
> on the distribution. Even if it is not mentioned anywhere, it is
> actually how all Linux binary distributions are maintained. What those
> *-devel contain are actually *.h files.

I made the same point in my response to Michael's OP. In our discussion
though I realised that for someone new to R and not familiar with how it
works, it is not immediately clear that you are compiling /against/ R
when /installing/ a package from within R itself. If the instructions
for installing tseries had been, open console, configure, make, install,
then fair enough, we might expect anyone using Linux to realise what was
wrong, but you don't install R packages that way.

With more and more people moving to Linux for various reasons, the
default attitude can't be to assume that if you're a Linux user that you
automatically know how all of this works.

All the best,

G

> 3) Install R from source and you will have no issues.
>
> Best,
>
> Dr Oleg Sklyar
> Technology Group
> Man Investments Ltd
> [phone]
> osklyar@...
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: r-devel-bounces@...
> > [mailto:r-devel-bounces@...] On Behalf Of Michael
> > Steinbeck-Reeves
> > Sent: 08 May 2008 16:39
> > To: r-devel@...
> > Subject: [Rd] Linux installation
> >
> > I have just installed R under Linux and had a tricky time
> > finding out that I needed to install r-devel as it was not
> > suggested by yum and does not appear in any of the FAQs.
> > Everything was fine until I tried to install tseries then I
> > was told in the compiler output that R.h was missing.
> > Obviously a search on Google proved fruitless and I was
> > forced to ask on r-help. I am now kicking myself, of course,
> > but wouldn't it be a useful addition to the R installation
> > FAQs, especially for those not acquainted with the C compiler output?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Michael
> > --
> > ------------------------
> > Michael Steinbeck-Reeves
> >
> > www.steinbeck-reeves.co.uk
> >
> > Work   [phone]
> > Mobile [phone]
> >
> > Milton House
> > Stratfield Saye
> > Berkshire
> > RG7 2BT
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-devel@... mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
> >
>
>
> **********************************************************************
> The contents of this email are for the named addressee(s...{{dropped:22}}
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel@... mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel

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 Dr. Gavin Simpson             [t] [phone]
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[Michael Steinbeck-Reeves]

On Thu, 2008-05-08 at 15:17 -0500, Marc Schwartz wrote:
> on 05/08/2008 10:39 AM Michael Steinbeck-Reeves wrote:
> > I have just installed R under Linux and had a tricky time finding
out
> >  that I needed to install r-devel as it was not suggested by yum and
> > does not appear in any of the FAQs. Everything was fine until I
tried

> > to install tseries then I was told in the compiler output that R.h
> > was missing. Obviously a search on Google proved fruitless and I was
> > forced to ask on r-help. I am now kicking myself, of course, but
> > wouldn't it be a useful addition to the R installation FAQs,
> > especially for those not acquainted with the C compiler output?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Michael
>
> The need for the -devel RPMS is referenced in the R Installation and
> Administration Manual in Appendix A and Appendix C.

You are quite right - it is mentioned but you need to know that you are
looking for it to find it - my initial thought was to look for R.h which
was a total waste of time of course.

All I suggested was that for the new user it might be helpful to have it
mentioned in the FAQs or, even better, in the Linux installation
section.

Michael.

> yum won't pick it up because the -devel RPM is not required to run R,
> which is the case BTW for most applications installed using yum on
RPM
> based Linux systems.
>
> yum won't reference 'suggested RPMs', only those actually required to
> run an application.
>
> However, if you are going to be doing any compilation of source code
> against an RPM installed application, you will need the -devel RPMS,
> which contain the required header (.h) files, among other things.
Again,
> under Linux, that is the case not only with R, but generally all
> applications installed in this fashion.
>
> HTH,
>
> Marc Schwartz
>
--
------------------------
Michael Steinbeck-Reeves

www.steinbeck-reeves.co.uk

Work   [phone]
Mobile [phone]

Milton House
Stratfield Saye
Berkshire
RG7 2BT

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