[Rd] R, Macports and C++ streams

[Simon Urbanek]

On Jul 30, 2008, at 12:32 , Ernest Turro wrote:

>
> On 30 Jul 2008, at 15:46, Simon Urbanek wrote:
>
>>
>> On Jul 30, 2008, at 9:45 , Ernest Turro wrote:
>>
>>> Dear all,
>>>
>>> R on Macports relies on GCC 4.3 to build packages. I find that  
>>> packages with shared objects that use C++ streams crash R if  
>>> they're compiled using Macports' gcc43, but work fine if compiled  
>>> in exactly the same way using Apple-supplied GCC 4.2. Has anyone  
>>> here had the same issue/know what is causing this problem?
>>>
>>
>> Using compilers from MacPorts and similar suites (Darwin ports,  
>> Fink etc.) is strongly discouraged (and outright not supported by  
>> the CRAN binary) since they have been known to be badly broken in  
>> the past and when whenever tested so far they were incomplete and  
>> incompatible. You have to re-compile R yourself with those tools  
>> (and you're entirely on your own) if you really want to use them.  
>> CRAN binaries work only with Apple's gcc branches, if you want to  
>> use anything else, you have to follow the unix R instructions and  
>> compile everything from sources.
>
> Dear Kjell,
>
> As you can see above, your R port on Macports appears to be broken  
> and has a reputation of having been broken for a while. I for one  
> have experienced odd problems as described above. To avoid further  
> issues with unsuspecting Macports users, perhaps it would be good to  
> pull the port from the repository until a decent level of  
> reliability can be provided ?
>

Although I do agree on your last point, I just want to clarify that I  
was talking about supported R for Mac setup (as provided in binary  
form on CRAN). Although it should be possible to build R with non- 
Apple gcc, but it must be done very carefully, because there are many  
dangers lurking in the interaction of system libraries with those from  
non-Apple tools. This has nothing to do with R, it's about knowledge  
how things work in OS X and it is very important when compilers are  
involved [unfortunately there are many binaries around from people  
that don't understand the intricacies of OS X well enough and think  
it's almost like a Linux box - I'm not talking about MacPorts in  
particular, it's just a general observation].

Cheers,
Simon