[Rd] r-base build: failure to convert R-FAQ to pdf

[Dirk Eddelbuettel]

Hi Cesare,

On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 05:54:04PM +0200, Cesare Tirabassi wrote:
> We have received an email in Ubuntu alerting us that something strange was 
> going on during the r-base 2.7.1 rc build (see [1]).
> 
> It seems that there is an error during the convertion of R-FAQ.texi to pdf.
> The following excerpt, taken from [2], shows the problem:
> 
> /bin/sh: line 0: test: too many arguments
> TEXINPUTS=".:$TEXINPUTS" /usr/bin/texi2dvi --texinfo="@set 
> UseExternalXrefs " --pdf R-FAQ.texi
> /usr/bin/texi2dvi: Running 
> pdfetex --file-line-error '/build/buildd/r-base-2.7.1~20080621/doc/manual/R-FAQ.t2d/pdf/xtr/R-FAQ.texi' ...
> This is pdfTeXk, Version 3.141592-1.40.3 (Web2C 7.5.6)
>  file:line:error style messages enabled.
>  %&-line parsing enabled.
> entering extended mode
> ! I can't find file `/build/buildd/r-base-2.7.1'.
> <to be read again> 
>                    \penalty 
> ~->\penalty 
>             \@M \ 
> <*> /build/buildd/r-base-2.7.1~
>                                
> 20080621/doc/manual/R-FAQ.t2d/pdf/xtr/R-FAQ.texi
> Please type another input file name: 
> ! Emergency stop.
> <to be read again> 
>                    \penalty 
> ~->\penalty 
>             \@M \ 
> <*> /build/buildd/r-base-2.7.1~
>                                
> 20080621/doc/manual/R-FAQ.t2d/pdf/xtr/R-FAQ.texi
> 
> !  ==> Fatal error occurred, no output PDF file produced!
> Transcript written on texput.log.
> /usr/bin/texi2dvi: pdfetex exited with bad status, quitting.
> make[2]: *** [R-FAQ.pdf] Error 1
> 
> Opinions?

Known deficiency in texinfo which pukes on the ~ in the directory
name. I have been told (by a member of R Core with whom I had been
corresponding on this) that it has been fixed upstream in texinfo, but
not yet in Debian unstable.

It is a non-issue for R as I uploaded 2.7.1 (without any ~ in the
revision as I did for the beta and rc of 2.7.1) earlier today so
proper packages are already in Debian, and will populate to Ubuntu in
due course.

And finally, if I may: this really is not an R issue at all but rather
a bug exposed by a Debian version naming convention -- so next time
just bug me and escalate to r-devel in case I don't respond.

Hth, Dirk

> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Cesare
> 
> [1]https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-motu/2008-June/004125.html
> [2]http://buildd.debian.org/fetch.cgi?pkg=r-base;ver=2.7.1%7E20080621-1;arch=amd64;stamp=1214071405

-- 
Three out of two people have difficulties with fractions.