R devel - Sep 2009 - building r packages for windows on a mac/linux

--- On Thu, 3/9/09, Vinh Nguyen <vinhdizzo at gmail.com> wrote:
> hi hin-tak,
> 
> i'm trying to build r packages for windows on a
> mac/linux.  i guess
> this used to possible and supported, but is no longer
> supported.  i
> ran into this post of yours,
> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2009-July/053971.html,
> and hope
> u don't mind me emailing you.
> 
> how did you set up your system to do this sort of
> thing?  i guess the
> only thing i don't get from your post is
> <win32_R_top>.  what does
> this refer to?  i do have mingw for macs, taken from
> http://crossgcc.rts-software.org/doku.php
> .  i tried compiling a
> package using your method but it didn't work, couldn't find
> things
> such as R.h.  i'm pretty sure it is the
> <win32_R_top> because i don't
> know what you are referring to with this.
> 
> i tried building R using mingw, but i got to the following
> error:
> sh: ../../../bin/Rterm.exe: cannot execute binary file
> make[2]: *** [all] Error 126
> make[1]: *** [R] Error 1
> make: *** [all] Error 2
> 
> can you guide me in the right direction?  thanks.
<win32_R_top> stands for 'windows R top directory' - you need both
native R and win32 R to cross-compile R packages. (native R for executing R
code, win32 R for its R.dll for the cross-compiler's linker to resolve
symbols) Go back to R 2.8.x and study the cross-compile instructions and make
sure that works, before attempting cross-compile with R 2.9.x .

FWIW, I just built win32 snpMatrix against R 2.9.2 last week and released that,
and also managed to build the chm windows-help file for the first time.. These
days, R packages for different platform only differ by the dll/so (and to a
lesser extent, things like the chm file) so you just need to build the dll/so to
go from one platform to another. chm file building is documented by others.

--- On Thu, 3/9/09, Vinh Nguyen <vinhdizzo at gmail.com> wrote:
> hmmm....tried building R-2.8.0 on my
> mac, didn't work.  i think it got
> the very end before failing:
> i386-mingw32-windres --preprocessor="i386-mingw32-gcc -E
> -xc
> -DRC_INVOKED" -I
> /Users/vinh/Downloads/Rwin/R-2.8.0/include  -I 
> -i
> methods_res.rc -o methods_res.o
> i386-mingw32-gcc  -std=gnu99  -shared -s  -o
> methods.dll methods.def
> class_support.o do_substitute_direct.o init.o
> methods_list_dispatch.o
> slot.o tests.o methods_res.o 
> -L/Users/vinh/Downloads/Rwin/R-2.8.0/bin
>    -lR
>   ... DLL made
>   installing DLL
>   collecting R files
>   preparing package methods for lazy loading
>   dumping R code in package `methods'
> cp:
> /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/methods/libs/methods.so:
> No such file or directory
> make[4]: ***
> [/Users/vinh/Downloads/Rwin/R-2.8.0/library/methods/R/methods.rdb]
> Error 1
> make[3]: *** [all] Error 2
> make[2]: *** [pkg-methods] Error 2
> make[1]: *** [rpackage] Error 1
> make: *** [all] Error 2
It is probably wiser to use the last of 2.8 (i.e. 2.8.1patched)

That seems to be buggy - anyhow, I said to build win32 R package you need to
have the win32 R.dll, I don't mean you have to build it yourself. You can
just take it out of the official win32 R installer.
> 
> if i go to bin/R.exe, my wine opens R fine.  so i
> think this is OK.
> my ultimate goal would be to build a package for
> windows.  looking
> through the admin file, i don't understand how i would do
> this (even
> if i didn't get that previous error).  could u kindly
> point me in the
> direction of how to do this?  make what?
The instruction for cross-compiling R packages is in a file called
"README.packages" or some such under src/gnuwin32 . The file was
removed in R 2.9.x (as the content is no longer supported).

BTW, you have not shown your affiliation nor the reason why you want to go this
way - and I am reluctant to do one-on-one hand-holding on annonymity. So please
keep the CC:, or arrange for commercial consultancy.