[R] installation: while running make, unable to run pdflatex on 'NEWS.tex'

[Jeff Newmiller]

This really is all LaTeX errors, not R errors. Both examples complain that pdftexcmds.sty is not installed. Most "sty" files are in LaTeX packages. Each LaTeX distribution has its own way to install packages ... but the difficulty is usually on the same order of difficulty as installing R packages from CRAN... that is, pretty easy. But you need to read about _your_ TeX system for details. I use Google to figure out which package has the given file in it... it is usually the same as whatever comes before ".sty", but not always.

On March 1, 2024 7:46:53 AM PST, Benjamin Tyner <btyner using gmail.com> wrote:
>
>A kind member of R-core suggested this is due to a misconfiguration on my system, and to post it to the mailing list for troubleshooting.
>
>When trying to build R version 4.3.3, in at least two places during the process it gives LaTeX errors of the form:
>
>(example 1)
>
>   you should 'make docs' now ...
>   make[1]: Entering directory '/home/btyner/R-4.3.3/doc'
>   creating doc/NEWS
>   creating doc/NEWS.pdf
>   Error in texi2dvi(file = file, pdf = TRUE, clean = clean, quiet =
>   quiet, :
>   unable to run pdflatex on 'NEWS.tex'
>   LaTeX errors:
>   ! LaTeX Error: File `pdftexcmds.sty' not found.
>
>   Type X to quit or <RETURN> to proceed,
>   or enter new name. (Default extension: sty)
>
>   ! Emergency stop.
>   <read *>
>
>   l.108 RequirePackage{pdftexcmds}[2018/09/10]
>   ^^M
>   ! ==> Fatal error occurred, no output PDF file produced!
>   Calls: <Anonymous> -> texi2pdf -> texi2dvi
>   Execution halted
>   make[1]: /*/ [Makefile:74: NEWS.pdf] Error 1
>   make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/btyner/R-4.3.3/doc'
>   make: [Makefile:73: docs] Error 2 (ignored)
>
>(example 2)
>
>   make[1]: Entering directory '/home/btyner/R-4.3.3/src/library'
>   building/updating vignettes for package 'grid' ...
>   building/updating vignettes for package 'parallel' ...
>   building/updating vignettes for package 'utils' ...
>   building/updating vignettes for package 'stats' ...
>   processing 'reshape.Rnw'
>   Error: compiling TeX file 'reshape.tex' failed with message:
>   unable to run pdflatex on 'reshape.tex'
>   LaTeX errors:
>   ! LaTeX Error: File `pdftexcmds.sty' not found.
>
>   Type X to quit or <RETURN> to proceed,
>   or enter new name. (Default extension: sty)
>
>   ! Emergency stop.
>   <read *>
>
>   l.108 RequirePackage{pdftexcmds}[2018/09/10]
>   ^^M
>   ! ==> Fatal error occurred, no output PDF file produced!
>   Execution halted
>   make[1]: ** [Makefile:103: vignettes] Error 1
>   make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/btyner/R-4.3.3/src/library'
>   make: ** [Makefile:81: vignettes] Error 2
>
>here is my |pdflatex --version| info:
>
>   pdfTeX 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.22 (TeX Live 2022/dev/Debian)
>   kpathsea version 6.3.4/dev
>   Compiled with libpng 1.6.37; using libpng 1.6.37
>   Compiled with zlib 1.2.11; using zlib 1.2.11
>   Compiled with xpdf version 4.03
>
>my platform info:
>
>   Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (64-bit)
>   Running under: Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
>
>I installed from this file with corresponding md5sum
>
>   R-4.3.3.tar.xz 5602f5996107c346dba12a16e866d2e2
>
>The specific commands I ran which led to the error were:
>
>   wget https://cran.r-project.org/src/base/R-4/R-4.3.3.tar.xz
>   mkdir R433
>   tar xJf R-4.3.3.tar.xz
>   cd R-4.3.3
>   ./configure --prefix=/home/btyner/R433
>   make
>
>Happy to provide any additional information needed.
>
>______________________________________________
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>PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

-- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.