dear wizards:
FYI: gentoo is a linux meta distribution, which compiles all
packages. Once running, gentoo is stable on most applications. (it
has some problems with system tools, such as grub.) the compiler is
gcc 3.3.3. I do not expect anyone to track down for me why R fails on
the gentoo amd64+gcc3.3.3 system, but I thought that it would be good
to put it on the record to save others some time.
The resulting from-source-compiled R is not stable in this
combination. R starts up ok, but a couple of commands (a simple linear
regression) usually result in a Segfault. this applies both to the R
provided by gentoo (an old version of 1.9.0) or the latest version
1.9.1 which I just pulled down. in case someone is wondering, the
debugger backtrace provides
#0 0x000000000052ac16 in dnrm2_ ()
#1 0x00000000005185e8 in dqrdc2_ ()
#2 0x0000000000518db1 in dqrls_ ()
#3 0x000000000045d5d5 in do_dotCode ()
#4 0x0000000000472b6b in Rf_eval ()
...
(if any R wizard were to find it useful to try it out for himself, I
could arrange for machine access, or provide other relevant
information. if anyone has compiled R 1.9.1 under amd64 with gcc
3.3.3 and found it to be stable, please let me know, too.)