Problem installing rgdal on a laptop running Ubuntu 16.04.1

I previously sent a cri de coeur about this problem to the r-help list
but so far have not managed to extract a solution.  So I am trying here.
(Uh, Ubuntu *is* a "special instance" of Debian, isn't it?)

The problem is that I cannot install rgdal, and I need it.  Rather
desperately.

I do:

    install.packages("rgdal",lib="/home/rolf/Rlib")

and get the error message:

** testing if installed package can be loaded
Error in dyn.load(file, DLLpath = DLLpath, ...) :
  unable to load shared object '/home/rolf/Rlib/rgdal/libs/rgdal.so':
  /home/rolf/Rlib/rgdal/libs/rgdal.so: undefined symbol:
CPLQuietErrorHandler
Error: loading failed
Execution halted