R Packages and System Modules

Goal: Installing some R packages requires understanding what libraries are available on the System.



Start a new Session and Start R

[]$ module purge []$ module load gcc/14.2.0 r/4.4.0 []$ R R version 4.4.0 (2024-04-24) -- "Puppy Cup" ...

Try Installing R XML Package

> install.packages("XML") ... checking for xml2-config... /apps/u/spack/gcc/14.2.0/libxml2/2.10.3-uqxodiu/bin/xml2-config ... Located parser file -I/apps/u/spack/gcc/14.2.0/libxml2/2.10.3-uqxodiu/include/libxml2 -I/apps/u/spack/gcc/14.2.0/libiconv/1.17-mii6uj7/include/parser.h Checking for 1.8: -I/apps/u/spack/gcc/14.2.0/libxml2/2.10.3-uqxodiu/include/libxml2 -I/apps/u/spack/gcc/14.2.0/libiconv/1.17-mii6uj7/include Using libxml2.* checking for gzopen in -lz... yes checking for xmlParseFile in -lxml2... yes You are trying to use a version 2.* edition of libxml but an incompatible library. The header files and library seem to be mismatched. If you have specified LIBXML_INCDIR, make certain to also specify an appropriate LIBXML_LIBDIR if the libxml2 library is not in the default directories. ERROR: configuration failed for package ‘XML’ * removing ‘/cluster/medbow/home/<username>/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/4.4/XML’ ...

What does the error message mean?


How to Resolve XML Package Issue

We can see from the CRAN package XML description that from the System Requirements we require: libxml2 (>= 2.6.3)

We can see that the libxml2 library is available and is being picked up.

[]$ ml Currently Loaded Modules: ... 15) libxml2/2.10.3 56) nghttp2/1.57.0 ...

Install location: /apps/u/spack/gcc/14.2.0/libxml2/2.10.3-uqxodiu

Sometimes the cause of the error isn’t obvious.

Try Googling to look for suggestions: Can not install XML package

# Withi R: > Sys.setenv(XML_CONFIG="/apps/u/spack/gcc/14.2.0/libxml2/2.10.3-uqxodiu/bin/xml2-config") > install.packages('XML', configure.args=c('--with-libxml2=/apps/u/spack/gcc/14.2.0/libxml2/2.10.3-uqxodiu/bin/xml2-config LIBXML_LIBDIR=-L/apps/u/spack/gcc/14.2.0/libxml2/2.10.3-uqxodiu/lib/ LIBXML_INCDIR=/apps/u/spack/gcc/14.2.0/libxml2/2.10.3-uqxodiu/include/libxml2/')) Installing package into ‘/cluster/medbow/home/salexan5/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/4.4’ ... * DONE (XML)

Install the R sf Package

Reading the CRAN sf definition page, take note of the system requirements:

System Requirements: GDAL (>= 2.0.1), GEOS (>= 3.4.0), PROJ (>= 4.8.0), sqlite3

What do we already have loaded?

[]$ ml Currently Loaded Modules: ... 35) sqlite/3.43.2 76) scrnsaverproto/1.2.2 ...

We also need to manually load:

[]$ module load gdal/3.7.3 geos/3.12.0 proj/9.2.1

Install the R sf Package: Fails

> install.packages("sf") ... also installing the dependencies ‘proxy’, ‘MASS’, ‘e1071’, ‘class’, ‘KernSmooth’, ‘wk’, ‘classInt’, ‘DBI’, ‘Rcpp’, ‘s2’, ‘units’ ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Configuration failed because libudunits2.so was not found. Try installing: * deb: libudunits2-dev (Debian, Ubuntu, ...) * rpm: udunits2-devel (Fedora, EPEL, ...) * brew: udunits (OSX) If udunits2 is already installed in a non-standard location, use: --configure-args='--with-udunits2-lib=/usr/local/lib' if the library was not found, and/or: --configure-args='--with-udunits2-include=/usr/include/udunits2' if the header was not found, replacing paths with appropriate values. You can alternatively set UDUNITS2_INCLUDE and UDUNITS2_LIBS manually. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ERROR: configuration failed for package ‘units’ ...

Do we have a udunits module?

[]$ module spider udunits ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- udunits: udunits/2.2.28 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You will need to load all module(s) on any one of the lines below before the "udunits/2.2.28" module is available to load. arcc/1.0 gcc/13.2.0 arcc/1.0 gcc/14.2.0 Help: Automated units conversion
[]$ module load udunits/2.2.28 # Within R > install.packages("sf") ... * DONE (sf) > library(sf) Linking to GEOS 3.12.0, GDAL 3.7.3, PROJ 9.2.1; sf_use_s2() is TRUE

Recommendation: When ever you want to use this R package, additionally load:

[]$ module purge []$ module load gcc/14.2.0 r/4.4.0 []$ module load gdal/3.7.3 geos/3.12.0 proj/9.2.1 udunits/2.2.28