[Rcpp-devel] (OS X / 64 bit woes?) R CMD check failing on skeletonc Rcpp module

[Michael Hannon]

On Saturday, March 24, 2012 10:46 AM, Dirk Eddelbuettel wrote:
> On 23 March 2012 at 13:53, Michael Hannon wrote:
>| I don't know if this is relevant, but locally we had occasion to install the
>| g++ compiler for MacOS from fink:
>|
>|     http://www.finkproject.org/
>|
>| This was because there was some complication (don't recall details) in
>| getting the new Xcode installed on the Mac in question.
>|
>| The version of g++ from fink installs as "g++-4" (to keep it orthogonal to
>| the one from Xcode):
>|
>|   $ g++-4 --version
>|   g++-4 (GCC) 4.6.2
>|   Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
>|   This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
>|   warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
>|
>| My point is that if the problem in question DOES stem from the use of an old
>| version of g++, it's a problem that might be relatively easy to fix.  Of
>| course, downloading the full Xcode stuff from Apple would also fix the
>| problem.
> 
> It would be good if we had a little bit of consensus here among the OS X
> cogniscenti so that I could add something to the Rcpp FAQ. 
> 
> So what is the best way to get a decent C++ compiler on OS X for R and Rcpp ?

As I seem to be partly responsible for this thread, I feel obliged to
contribute a few more, unenlightening remarks before bowing out.

First, I'm definitely NOT an OS X cognoscente.  I'm a linux guy that gets
dragged in to helping with Mac OS X issues.

I have recommended and installed Apple's Xcode, but I have reservations about
it.  I don't seem to be able to get a consistent view of it.  Some versions
are free but require an upgrade to the latest version of the OS.  Or the same
version is free if you sign up (for a cost) to be a developer for iOS.  Or
maybe the same version is completely free if you sign up -- for free -- to be
a Safari developer.  And the compiler suite is or is not gcc, depending on
version.  I've probably garbled some of this.

I used software from the Fink project some time ago, when I was a bit more
involved with Mac OS, so I turned to it again to solve the problem to which I
alluded in my original message.  It's also mildly reassuring to me that you
can use "apt" to install, etc., software from the Fink project, although
you're not required to do so.

I thought that the page to which Davor referred was interesting:

    http://r.research.att.com/tools/

But I didn't see any combination of {Xcode, contributed tools} on that page
that would get a really recent version of g++, which may be a significant
issue for some people.

-- Mike