[Rd] lme4 install, was Re: [R] Which executable is associated with R CMD INSTALL?

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Mon, 6 Nov 2006, Douglas Bates wrote:

[...]

> However, I think it exposes a problem with R CMD INSTALL.  If there is
> a LinkingTo: directive in the DESCRIPTION file and the package's
> include directory cannot be found I think that R CMD INSTALL should
> abort.

That was a deliberate design decision: LinkingTo means 'add to the C 
include path if found'.  I think rather a package that cannot work without 
the link should ensure that the compilation fails cleanly -- I was trying 
to allow the package writer the freedom to ignore the link if it was not 
available.

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595