deps.mk does not exist in 2.4.3 tarball

[brook-milligan]

src/Makevars states the following prior to a rule to make deps.mk:

# This file is available only during development.
# For the tarball, we create an empty file.

However, the tarball for release 2.4.3 does not contain the file deps.mk. Consequently, compiling fails on a Mac (15.3.1, Xcode 16.1) because deps.mk does not exist.

The release process should enforce creation of this file, or make should unconditionally create it.

[krlmlr]

Thanks. What's the exact error message and the command you're running? How do I replicate compiling with XCode? I'm on macOS Version 15.6.1 .

The tarball is not supposed to contain deps.mk . The rule in the Makevars should create it just in time.

[brook-milligan]

That JIT file creation only works with gmake (which I have now verified to work as intended; I was using bmake before). Perhaps it should be documented that gmake is now a requirement (it wasn't before).

[krlmlr]

Thanks. How do I run with bmake ? It works for me with the "regular" make (and of course with GNU make on Linux); with bmake installed from Homebrew I see

$ MAKE=bmake R CMD INSTALL RSQLite_2.4.3.9007.tar.gz
* installing to library ‘/Users/kirill/Library/R/arm64/4.4/library’
* installing *source* package ‘RSQLite’ ...
** using staged installation
** libs
usage: bmake [-BeikNnqrSstWwX]
            [-C directory] [-D variable] [-d flags] [-f makefile]
            [-I directory] [-J private] [-j max_jobs] [-m directory] [-T file]
            [-V variable] [-v variable] [variable=value] [target ...]
Warning in system(paste(MAKE, p1(paste("-f", shQuote(makefiles))), "compilers"),  :
  running command 'bmake -f 'Makevars' -f '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.4-arm64/Resources/etc/Makeconf' -f '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.4-arm64/Resources/share/make/shlib.mk' -f '/Users/kirill/.R/Makevars' compilers' had status 2
sh: --version: command not found
Error in if (nzchar(cxx)) { : argument is of length zero
* removing ‘/Users/kirill/Library/R/arm64/4.4/library/RSQLite’
* restoring previous ‘/Users/kirill/Library/R/arm64/4.4/library/RSQLite’

(I can't get that bmake to run at all, even with other Makefiles.)

[brook-milligan]

I assume you realize that make on a Mac is gmake, so compiling as above with Make=make should be fine and is what I expect you normally do.

I also expect that if you run the command above (with bmake) after having created deps.mk manually or after having removed the bit from Makevars, all will compile fine. That was certainly true when I tried to compile with bmake after creating deps.mk.

I am driving this with pkgsrc (www.pkgsrc.org), but get the same error you do when instructing it to use bmake (modulo different paths to the various files in the error). I'm pretty sure that when instructed to use gmake, pkgsrc (among lots else) compiles with MAKE=make and therefore more or less matches what I expect to be your normal command.

Note that this was not required for RSQLite v2.3.9, which built just fine with bmake. I suppose the deps.mk target was introduced after that. Now, I have to instruct pkgsrc to explicitly use gmake. This change is why I suggest that there is now a dependency on gmake, which should be documented.

[krlmlr]

Thanks, yes, my make is just a much older GNU Make than gmake . Wasn't aware of that.

How do I install and run bmake ? My failing attempt at running it is shown above. I have this problem in a few other places and am interested in a solution that does not require declaring a GNU make dependency.

I'm already avoiding the -include syntax because of this. If really forced to use gmake, I might as well go with that.

[brook-milligan]

Yes, make on a Mac is whatever version of gmake they included with the OS. The gmake syntax, though, is a bit different in places from that for bmake. Nevertheless, there is a common dialect that works for both. If your goal is to use the same Makefile for both gmake and bmake, then you will have to stick to the common dialect.

As for installing bmake, it looks like you have done that successfully already. I don't think the error you quoted above has anything to do with bmake not being installed. Indeed, I get the same error; I know I have bmake installed correctly and use it regularly to build other R packages.

Rather, I think your error message is a result of the problem I reported, that bmake does not automatically run the target prior to attempting to include deps.mk. To be sure, just create the file and run the command you did; I expect it will build just fine.

[krlmlr]

Thanks. Can replicate now, need to clear MAKEFLAGS too.

Thinking about a cleanup script that would just create an empty file for R CMD build .