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Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 21:01:34 -0800
Message-ID: <CAKEdzNJrSNKwnBPR0OTUhxK36QHC0rvCbj7+pdhjvVghWYGF_w@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: R install.package() bug
To: cygwin cygwin <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
From: Stephen P Carrier via Cygwin <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
Reply-To: Stephen P Carrier <carrier AT berkeley DOT edu>
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Sender: "Cygwin" <cygwin-bounces+archive-cygwin=delorie DOT com AT cygwin DOT com>
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I would like to report an issue with install.packages() experienced today
using the current R package.

I installed R 4.3.0 on system:

# uname -rs
CYGWIN_NT-10.0-20348 3.4.9-1.x86_64

I tried to install the DBI package, DBI_1.1.3.tar.gz, downloaded from a
mirror.

I used

install.packages("/path/to/DBI_1.1.13.tar.gz", repos = NULL);

What happens is:

-----
Installing package into ‘/usr/lib/R/site-library’
(as ‘lib’ is unspecified)
During startup - Warning message:
package ‘stats’ in options("defaultPackages") was not found
* installing *source* package ‘DBI’ ...
** package ‘DBI’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked
** using staged installation
Error : Invalid DESCRIPTION file

Malformed maintainer field.

See section 'The DESCRIPTION file' in the 'Writing R Extensions'
manual.
ERROR: installing package DESCRIPTION failed for package ‘DBI’
-----

I looked in the manual to see what DESCRIPTION files should look like.  The
encoding is specified as UTF-8 in the file so the umlauts sprinkled
throughout should be fine.  The 'Maintainer:' line contains an umlaut, I
removed it, after which the package installed without error.  Umlauts
elsewhere in the DESCRIPTION file are not a problem.

Seems like a bug.  I don't have R 4.3.0 installed on a Linux system to test
if the bug is upstream from Cygwin, and my immediate problem is solved with
a simple workaround.

Thanks to all for maintaining this fine product (Cygwin kernel and all the
packages).

--Stephen Carrier

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