Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions when developing with miniextendr.

🔗Build Issues

🔗“configure: command not found”

The configure script hasn’t been generated from configure.ac.

cd rpkg && autoconf && ./configure
# or
just configure

Prerequisites: GNU autotools must be installed:

# macOS
brew install autoconf automake

# Debian/Ubuntu
apt-get install autoconf automake

🔗“Could not find tools necessary to compile a package”

R can’t find a C compiler or Rust toolchain.

1. Verify Rust is installed: rustc --version
2. Verify C compiler: gcc --version or clang --version
3. On macOS, install Xcode command line tools: xcode-select --install

🔗Compilation errors after changing Rust code

Run the full rebuild workflow:

just configure          # Sync workspace crates to vendor/
just rcmdinstall        # Compile and install

If you changed macros specifically:

just configure          # 1. Sync macro crate to vendor/
just rcmdinstall        # 2. Build with new macros
just devtools-document  # 3. Regenerate R wrappers using new macros
just rcmdinstall        # 4. Rebuild with regenerated wrappers

🔗Stale R wrappers after macro changes

Symptoms: R wrappers don’t reflect your new #[miniextendr] functions.

NOT_CRAN=true just devtools-document  # Regenerate R/miniextendr-wrappers.R
NOT_CRAN=true just rcmdinstall        # Rebuild with new wrappers

🔗R Function Issues

🔗“could not find function” in R tests

Functions exist in Rust but aren’t callable from R. Check in order:

1. Function is pub – non-pub functions don’t get @export in R wrappers
2. Function has #[miniextendr] – check the attribute is present
3. NAMESPACE is stale – run just devtools-document to regenerate

Quick fix:

NOT_CRAN=true just devtools-document && NOT_CRAN=true just rcmdinstall

Note: The lint tool (just lint) catches issues #1 and #2 at build time.

🔗“package not found” when running tests

The example package (rpkg/) needs to be installed first:

just rcmdinstall

🔗Installation Issues

🔗Permission errors (“no permission to install to directory”)

Use a local library path:

R_LIBS=/tmp/miniextendr_lib R CMD INSTALL rpkg
# or
R_LIBS=/tmp/miniextendr_lib just rcmdinstall

Alternatively, use devtools::install() which handles library paths:

just devtools-install

🔗Cross-Package Issues

🔗Cross-package tests fail

Rebuild both packages:

just cross-install  # Installs producer.pkg and consumer.pkg
just cross-test     # Run tests

🔗TypedExternal dispatch fails across packages

Ensure both packages are built against the same version of miniextendr-api. The TypedExternal trait uses R symbols for type identification, and version mismatches can cause type lookups to fail silently.

🔗Vendor / Configure Issues

🔗Vendored crates are out of date

After modifying workspace crates (miniextendr-api, miniextendr-macros, etc.):

just vendor-sync-check  # Check for drift
just configure          # Refresh vendored copies

🔗Editing generated files has no effect

Many files in rpkg are generated from .in templates. Always edit the template:

🔗Lint Issues

🔗Lint reports missing #[miniextendr] attribute

Add #[miniextendr] to the function or impl block. Registration is automatic via linkme distributed slices.

🔗Lint passes but functions are still invisible to R

Ensure the function is pub and has #[miniextendr], then run just devtools-document to regenerate R wrappers.

🔗Windows Issues

Windows uses configure.win / configure.ucrt instead of the autoconf-based configure script. If Windows builds fail:

1. Check rpkg/configure.win and rpkg/configure.ucrt exist
2. Check rpkg/cleanup.win and rpkg/cleanup.ucrt exist
3. Ensure paths use forward slashes in R code