[rkward-users] some insights into the libRlapack.so mystery

[Prasenjit Kapat]

Hi All,

I was curious as to what is wrong with this libRlapack.so issue, so
here are some things I found... Of course the solution was easier than
all this "investigation"...

Fact 1: libRlapack.so is actually part of the official Ubuntu Hardy
r-base-core (2.6.2-2) package. This can be seen from the following
link:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?searchon=contents&keywords=libRlapack.so&mode=exactfilename&suite=hardy&arch=any

but not for the Intrepid (2.7.1-2) package:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?searchon=contents&keywords=libRlapack.so&mode=exactfilename&suite=intrepid&arch=any

Fact 2: libRlapack.so is not part of CRAN's version of r-base-core
(2.7.2-1) for Hardy. I am using CRAN's repo for the latest version of
R. Here is the proof:

$ dpkg -L r-base-core | grep lapack.so
/usr/lib/R/modules/lapack.so

$ apt-cache policy r-base-core
r-base-core:
  Installed: 2.7.2-1hardy0
  Candidate: 2.7.2-1hardy0
  Version table:
 *** 2.7.2-1hardy0 0
        500 http://cran.mtu.edu hardy/ Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2.6.2-2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/universe Packages

Fact 3: CRAN's version of rkward (0.5.0b) for Hardy needs
libRlapack.so. Again, my installation of rkward currently is from
CRAN!

$ ldd /usr/bin/rkward.bin | grep lapack
        libRlapack.so => /usr/lib/libRlapack.so (0xb5f07000)
        liblapack.so.3gf => /usr/lib/liblapack.so.3gf (0xb51da000)

The libRlapack.so is actually a symlink ("the solution"):
$ ls -l /usr/lib/libRlapack.so
<snip>  /usr/lib/libRlapack.so -> R/modules/lapack.so

$ apt-cache policy rkward
rkward:
  Installed: 0.5.0b-2hardy0
  Candidate: 0.5.0b-2hardy0
  Version table:
 *** 0.5.0b-2hardy0 0
        500 http://cran.mtu.edu hardy/ Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.4.9-2ubuntu0.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/universe Packages
     0.4.9-2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/universe Packages

Fact 4: rkward (0.4.9-2) from Ubuntu Hardy official repository needs
libRlapack.so. Note: I downloaded and extracted the i386 binary
package from
http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy-updates/i386/rkward/download

$ ldd ./rkward.bin_0.4.9-2ubuntu0.1_i386 |grep lapack
        libRlapack.so => /usr/lib/libRlapack.so (0xb7607000)
        liblapack.so.3gf => /usr/lib/liblapack.so.3gf (0xb55c3000)

Fact 5: rkward (0.5.0b) from Ubuntu Intrepid official repository does
not need ANY lapack libraries!!! Note: I downloaded and extracted the
i386 binary from
http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/i386/rkward/download

$ ldd ./rkward.bin_0.5.0b-2_i386 | grep lapack
(gives nothing! Is this right? Did anyone try rkward on Intrepid)

Conclusion? Is something wrong with the CRAN version of rkward?
Actually I also had problem with the Renviron file. Creating a similar
symlink was the solution, but that is another story...

I will link this message from both sourceforge and launchpad for
broader coverage without reposting it everywhere.

If this is indeed a problem with the CRAN's rkward package then, we
should file a bug with them and not with Ubuntu.

Regards,
PK