Question

I have downloaded a package from here:

ecogbm

I tried to install it like this:

setwd("d:/RStuff")
install.packages("ecogbm_1.01.tar.gz", repos = NULL, type="source")

Unfortunately I get this:

Installing package(s) into ‘C:/Users/Bla/Documents/R/win-library/2.15’
(as ‘lib’ is unspecified)
* installing *source* package 'ecogbm' ...
** Creating default NAMESPACE file
** libs

*** arch - i386
ERROR: compilation failed for package 'ecogbm'
* removing 'C:/Users/Bla/Documents/R/win-library/2.15/ecogbm'
Warning messages:
1: running command 'C:/PROGRA~1/R/R-215~1.0/bin/x64/R CMD INSTALL -l         "C:/Users/Bla/Documents/R/win-library/2.15"   "ecogbm_1.01.tar.gz"' had status 1 
2: In install.packages("ecogbm_1.01.tar.gz", type = "source", repos = NULL) :
   installation of package ‘ecogbm_1.01.tar.gz’ had non-zero exit status`

I am not sure whether the i386 means anything. I run the 64bit R version. Is my installation process flawed or can someone please verify that there is something wrong with this package? Is there another way to get it installed? Thanks!

Answer 1

I get the impression that you are trying to install a source package on Windows without the appropriate source-building tools available to you. If this is the case then you need to either obtain a binary from somewhere or build one yourself. Details on how to set up the tool chain required can be found in the R Windows FAQ and the R installation and Administration manual

If you don’t fancy setting up the toolchain yourself, you can make use of the excellent WinBuilder server maintained by Uwe Ligges. See the relevant section of the R Windows FAQ for details and the site which is here: http://win-builder.r-project.org/

Do note the point about the package being known to work on an UNIX-alike; given the ecogbm is a beta package there may well be problems building it even on UNIX-alikes which will most likely mean the Windows binary can not be built either.