silicon-mac-package-install

---
title: "Enabling R Package Install on Silicon Macs"
date: "`r Sys.Date()`"
output: html_document
---

```{r setup, include=FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = TRUE)
```

This documents some of the troubleshooting performed by Nate and Emma on project setup with M1 macs. Updated Dec 15, 2023 with latest gcc install.

1. Install the R compilation tool chain https://mac.thecoatlessprofessor.com/macrtools/. If any issues with FORTRAN, follow instructions for downloading FORTRAN compiler here for Apple silicon Macs: <https://mac.r-project.org/tools/>

2. Install gcc `brew install gcc`. This requires having brew set up. 

3. Make sure homebrew is in terminal path. Add it by `export PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/bin`.

4. Create `~/.R/Makevars` and insert the following. This will need to be updated depending on gcc version. 

CXX14FLAGS += -O3 -arch arm64 -ftemplate-depth-256
FC = /opt/homebrew/Cellar/gcc/13.2.0/bin/gfortran
F77 = /opt/homebrew/Cellar/gcc/13.2.0/bin/gfortran
FLIBS = -L/opt/homebrew/Cellar/gcc/13.2.0/lib/gcc/13

5. RStudio may have a bug in accessing the correct terminal path. The workaround is to copy your terminal path (`echo $PATH`) into `.Renviron` per instructions here: <https://community.rstudio.com/t/how-to-get-rstudio-ide-to-use-the-correct-terminal-path-in-mac-os-x/131528/6>

6. Some packages may need additional help for R to find the correct paths. For `units`:
`remotes::install_version(package = "units", 
                         version = "0.8-5", 
                         configure.args = "--with-udunits2-lib=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/udunits/2.2.28/lib --with-udunits2-include=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/udunits/2.2.28/include")`