PCRE configure problem with R-4.0.0

When I try ./configure --enable-R-shlib

I get this error:

configure: error: PCRE2 library and headers are required, or use --with-pcre1 and PCRE >= 8.32 with UTF-8 support

I have to admit I'm completely in the dark as to what functionality
PCRE provides.

Next, I tried using --with-pcre1 but it made no difference.

There are quite a lot of packages in the repository for Linux Mint
17.2 with 'pcre' in the name and these are installed:

aptitude search pcre | grep  ^i

i   libpcre3                        - Perl 5 Compatible Regular Expression Libra
i   libpcre3:i386                   - Perl 5 Compatible Regular Expression Libra
i   libpcre3-dev                    - Perl 5 Compatible Regular Expression Libra
i   libpcrecpp0                     - Perl 5 Compatible Regular Expression Libra

Apparantly the '3' doesn't indicate an updated '2' version.  The only
packages with prce2 in the name are these:

aptitude search pcre2

v   apertium-pcre2                                           -
v   apertium-pcre2:i386                                      -

Suggestions welcome.


--
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
   ___    Patrick Connolly
 {~._.~}                   Great minds discuss ideas
 _( Y )_                 Average minds discuss events
(:_~*~_:)                  Small minds discuss people
 (_)-(_)                              ..... Eleanor Roosevelt

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