R devel - Dec 2007 - Installation of ade4 and ecodist (PR#10535)

Dear R Team,

The installation of the packages ade4 and ecodist failed with the 
message that the description file could not be read.

The problem appeared with recent versions of R (2.6.0 or 2.6.1)
- On a Macintosh computer, trying to install packages directly 
through the internet
- On a Windows computer, trying to install packages from ZIP files.

The problem seems to be specific to new compiled version(s) of these 
packages, since:
- I could install these packages in summer 2007 to another Macintosh 
with R Version 2.3.0
- I could install two other packages (car and spdep) on the 
aformentioned Windows computer (doing exactly the same).
- Our IT specialist could download source codes of ade4 and ecodist, 
compile them and install them on the aforementioned Macintosh 
computer (after the installation from binaries had failed).

Thank you for checking what might cause the problem so that I could 
use the packages in teaching.

Yours sincerely,
Sabine Guesewell

-- 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
PD Dr. Sabine Guesewell
Institute of Integrative Biology
Department of Environmental Sciences
ETH Zurich, CHN H 68
8092 Zurich
Switzerland

Tel: ++41-44-632 43 07
Fax ++41-44-632 12 15
E-Mail: sabine.guesewell at env.ethz.ch
http://www.plantecology.ethz.ch/people/wissmit