New {macrtools} package to help setup compiled code environments on Intel and ARM-based macs

All,

Hope all is well.

About a month or so back, we revisited the **unofficial** macOS R
compilation toolchain setup wizard with a focus on making it more
maintainable without an Apple developer subscription. The result is the new
{macrtools} R package. You can learn more about it here:

GitHub: https://github.com/coatless-mac/macrtools
Documentation: https://mac.thecoatlessprofessor.com/macrtools/
Video walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fckF0fefXQ

The package setups the required components for the macOS R compilation
toolchain on both Intel-based and Arm-based macs with just the issuance in
R of:

macrtools::macos_rtools_install()

This will attempt to install:

 *   Xcode CLI
 *   gfortran
 *   R Development binaries

We?re grateful for the early testing feedback from both Bob Rudis and Adam
H Sparks related to ARM-based macs and Simon Urbanek?s help with unpacking
binaries as well as the install user prompt best practices note. (Note:
This is not an endorsement from Simon or CRAN. This is an **unofficial**
project to support macOS users who are not familiar with command-line
tools.)

We hope this improves the experience in setting up the compilation
toolchain and lowers the barrier of entry for using packages like RStan and
RcppArmadillo.

Best,
JJB
---
James J Balamuta, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Statistics
Office of the CIO ? Innovation Scholar and Advisor
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

"The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we
never expected to see."
~ John Tukey


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Adrian,



Thanks! Unfortunately, this is a hiccup with the download portion of the R
Developer binaries [1] from the {recipes} system on CRAN [2]. It looks like
the system might have been in mid-update or we overloaded it with download
requests. Ewk! I?ll try to see if we can meter the requests with a .1
second delay or so.



If you re-run in a few moments the installation command:



macrtools::macos_rtools_install()



Only the development binaries from the {recipes} system will be installed.
(Xcode CLI and gfortran will be skipped as they are now both installed and
configured.) These binaries are mainly if you want to compiled R from
source.



Best,



JJB



[1]: https://mac.r-project.org/bin/

[2]: https://github.com/R-macos/recipes



*From: *Adrian Du?a <dusa.adrian at unibuc.ro>
*Date: *Friday, March 24, 2023 at 1:23 AM
*To: *Balamuta, James Joseph <balamut2 at illinois.edu>
*Cc: *r-sig-mac at r-project.org <r-sig-mac at r-project.org>
*Subject: *Re: [R-SIG-Mac] New {macrtools} package to help setup compiled
code environments on Intel and ARM-based macs

Just went through the commands, on a new MacBook Pro with M2 Max, MacOS
Ventura 13.2.1

I already had Xcode CLI installed, and the gfortran installation went well
until it stopped at the icu binary:



Downloading binary:
https://mac.R-project.org/bin/darwin20/arm64/icu-71.1-darwin.20-arm64.tar.xz
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/mac.R-project.org/bin/darwin20/arm64/icu-71.1-darwin.20-arm64.tar.xz__;!!DZ3fjg!9LMgelsxLau-BxmqYfTzEgA5QxjuoqHFp02eITeYGSW7nC7z5UaC3sVUyHrNEViohimWHrssIYGDOTdLx7mgKYrgDfM$>
...

trying URL '
https://mac.R-project.org/bin/darwin20/arm64/icu-71.1-darwin.20-arm64.tar.xz
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/mac.R-project.org/bin/darwin20/arm64/icu-71.1-darwin.20-arm64.tar.xz__;!!DZ3fjg!9LMgelsxLau-BxmqYfTzEgA5QxjuoqHFp02eITeYGSW7nC7z5UaC3sVUyHrNEViohimWHrssIYGDOTdLx7mgKYrgDfM$>
'

Content type 'application/octet-stream' length 11923364 bytes (11.4 MB)

=====================

downloaded 4.9 MB



Error in utils::download.file(url, save_location, quiet = !verbose) :

  download from '
https://mac.R-project.org/bin/darwin20/arm64/icu-71.1-darwin.20-arm64.tar.xz
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/mac.R-project.org/bin/darwin20/arm64/icu-71.1-darwin.20-arm64.tar.xz__;!!DZ3fjg!9LMgelsxLau-BxmqYfTzEgA5QxjuoqHFp02eITeYGSW7nC7z5UaC3sVUyHrNEViohimWHrssIYGDOTdLx7mgKYrgDfM$>'
failed

In addition: Warning messages:

1: In utils::download.file(url, save_location, quiet = !verbose) :

  downloaded length 5095370 != reported length 11923364

2: In utils::download.file(url, save_location, quiet = !verbose) :

  URL '
https://mac.R-project.org/bin/darwin20/arm64/icu-71.1-darwin.20-arm64.tar.xz
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/mac.R-project.org/bin/darwin20/arm64/icu-71.1-darwin.20-arm64.tar.xz__;!!DZ3fjg!9LMgelsxLau-BxmqYfTzEgA5QxjuoqHFp02eITeYGSW7nC7z5UaC3sVUyHrNEViohimWHrssIYGDOTdLx7mgKYrgDfM$>':
Timeout of 60 seconds was reached



Not sure if it helps, but still reporting.



Best wishes,

Adrian



On 24 Mar 2023 at 10:04:25, "Balamuta, James Joseph" <
balamut2 at illinois.edu> wrote:

All,

Hope all is well.

About a month or so back, we revisited the **unofficial** macOS R
compilation toolchain setup wizard with a focus on making it more
maintainable without an Apple developer subscription. The result is the new
{macrtools} R package. You can learn more about it here:

GitHub: https://github.com/coatless-mac/macrtools
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/github.com/coatless-mac/macrtools__;!!DZ3fjg!9LMgelsxLau-BxmqYfTzEgA5QxjuoqHFp02eITeYGSW7nC7z5UaC3sVUyHrNEViohimWHrssIYGDOTdLx7mgIYJRnkw$>
Documentation: https://mac.thecoatlessprofessor.com/macrtools/
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/mac.thecoatlessprofessor.com/macrtools/__;!!DZ3fjg!9LMgelsxLau-BxmqYfTzEgA5QxjuoqHFp02eITeYGSW7nC7z5UaC3sVUyHrNEViohimWHrssIYGDOTdLx7mgEHZj8Q8$>
Video walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fckF0fefXQ
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fckF0fefXQ__;!!DZ3fjg!9LMgelsxLau-BxmqYfTzEgA5QxjuoqHFp02eITeYGSW7nC7z5UaC3sVUyHrNEViohimWHrssIYGDOTdLx7mgluEy5Rk$>

The package setups the required components for the macOS R compilation
toolchain on both Intel-based and Arm-based macs with just the issuance in
R of:

macrtools::macos_rtools_install()

This will attempt to install:

 *   Xcode CLI
 *   gfortran
 *   R Development binaries

We?re grateful for the early testing feedback from both Bob Rudis and Adam
H Sparks related to ARM-based macs and Simon Urbanek?s help with unpacking
binaries as well as the install user prompt best practices note. (Note:
This is not an endorsement from Simon or CRAN. This is an **unofficial**
project to support macOS users who are not familiar with command-line
tools.)

We hope this improves the experience in setting up the compilation
toolchain and lowers the barrier of entry for using packages like RStan and
RcppArmadillo.

Best,
JJB
---
James J Balamuta, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Statistics
Office of the CIO ? Innovation Scholar and Advisor
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

"The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we
never expected to see."
~ John Tukey


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