R help - Sep 2006 - Installing packages with R v.2.3.1 on MAC OS X -- Error: "Cannot chdir: No such file or directory"

Dear all,

    I'm working on MAC OS X 10.4.7 using R version 2.3.1 (June 2006)  
and platform powerpc-apple-darwin8.6.0. Since I installed the new  
version of R I cannot install packages any more (but it worked fine  
before) and get the following message every time. I can, however,  
install packages from the command line if I get them as precompiled  
binaries.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
------------------------------------------------------------------
 > install.packages("foreign", lib="~/libs/Rlibs")
trying URL 'http://www.biometrics.mtu.edu/CRAN/bin/macosx/powerpc/ 
contrib/2.3/foreign_0.8-15.tgz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 268096 bytes
opened URL
=================================================downloaded 261Kb

tar: ~/libs/Rlibs/file77a4044d: Cannot chdir: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

gzip: stdout: Broken pipe
Error in sprintf(gettext(fmt, domain = domain), ...) :
         argument is missing, with no default
 >
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
-------------------------------------------------------------------

The command did create the directory (i.e. ~/libs/Rlibs/file77a4044d)  
on my system and has open priviledges (i.e. drwxr-xr-x) but is empty.  
I've tried 'sudo R' but that does not help and cannot find anything
helpful on this in the R-help archives or FAQ.

Thanks in advance for your help,
I would really appreciate any help in solving this,
best regards,
Snaebjorn

Are you trying to install a package from source?
Try adding type='source' when you call install.packages().
The help page for install.packages() indicates the need for this on a Mac.

You might also check and see if ~/libs exists, and you have write 
privileges, but take care of the source vs. binary issue first. 
Notice the 'bin' in the URL path it mentions.

-Don

At 12:16 PM -0400 9/21/06, Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson
wrote:
>Dear all,
>
>     I'm working on MAC OS X 10.4.7 using R version 2.3.1 (June 2006) 
>and platform powerpc-apple-darwin8.6.0. Since I installed the new 
>version of R I cannot install packages any more (but it worked fine 
>before) and get the following message every time. I can, however, 
>install packages from the command line if I get them as precompiled 
>binaries.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>  > install.packages("foreign", lib="~/libs/Rlibs")
>trying URL 'http://www.biometrics.mtu.edu/CRAN/bin/macosx/powerpc/
>contrib/2.3/foreign_0.8-15.tgz'
>Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 268096 bytes
>opened URL
>=================================================>downloaded 261Kb
>
>tar: ~/libs/Rlibs/file77a4044d: Cannot chdir: No such file or directory
>tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
>
>gzip: stdout: Broken pipe
>Error in sprintf(gettext(fmt, domain = domain), ...) :
>          argument is missing, with no default
>  >
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The command did create the directory (i.e. ~/libs/Rlibs/file77a4044d) 
>on my system and has open priviledges (i.e. drwxr-xr-x) but is empty. 
>I've tried 'sudo R' but that does not help and cannot find
anything
>helpful on this in the R-help archives or FAQ.
>
>Thanks in advance for your help,
>I would really appreciate any help in solving this,
>best regards,
>Snaebjorn
>
>______________________________________________
>R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
>https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

-- 
--------------------------------------
Don MacQueen
Environmental Protection Department
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA, USA