install.package() on RStudio on Amazon EC2 doesn't work. Package not available for R version 3.3.3

Question

I've seen this: How should I deal with "package 'xxx' is not available (for R version xyz)" warning?

and been through the list. No luck. I've also navigated via SSH to my library to see if there was some LOCK file or corrupt install. There is nothing there.

I literally just installed RStudio on Amazon EC2 and can't install the any new packages. I've done it this way: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/big-data/running-r-on-aws/ I've also used Ubuntu with Louis Anslett's AMI: http://www.louisaslett.com/RStudio_AMI/

I get the same problem in both. I have downloaded them manually and installed the tar.gz files from the temp directory. The CRAN repository seems to be fine because install.packages() downloads the tar.gz to /tmp/Rtmp2Rh9Zr/downloaded_packages/ just fine, but then the actual install process fails.

When I run install.packages("haven") for instance, it says

> install.packages("haven")
Installing package into ‘/home/jblocher/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.3’
(as ‘lib’ is unspecified)
also installing the dependencies ‘R6’, ‘assertthat’, ‘rlang’, ‘Rcpp’, ‘readr’, ‘hms’, ‘tibble’, ‘BH’

trying URL 'https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/R6_2.2.1.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 325641 bytes (318 KB)
==================================================
downloaded 318 KB

trying URL 'https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/assertthat_0.2.0.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 11612 bytes (11 KB)
==================================================
downloaded 11 KB

trying URL 'https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/rlang_0.1.1.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 201419 bytes (196 KB)
==================================================
downloaded 196 KB

trying URL 'https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/Rcpp_0.12.11.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 2485092 bytes (2.4 MB)
==================================================
downloaded 2.4 MB

trying URL 'https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/readr_1.1.1.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 233793 bytes (228 KB)
==================================================
downloaded 228 KB

trying URL 'https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/hms_0.3.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 7271 bytes
==================================================
downloaded 7271 bytes

trying URL 'https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/tibble_1.3.1.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 91235 bytes (89 KB)
==================================================
downloaded 89 KB

trying URL 'https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/BH_1.62.0-1.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 10181096 bytes (9.7 MB)
==================================================
downloaded 9.7 MB

trying URL 'https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/haven_1.0.0.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 150016 bytes (146 KB)
==================================================
downloaded 146 KB

Error in library(haven) : there is no package called ‘haven’
Execution halted
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘R6’ had non-zero exit status
Error in library(haven) : there is no package called ‘haven’
Execution halted
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘assertthat’ had non-zero exit status
Error in library(haven) : there is no package called ‘haven’
Execution halted
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘rlang’ had non-zero exit status
Error in library(haven) : there is no package called ‘haven’
Execution halted
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘Rcpp’ had non-zero exit status
Error in library(haven) : there is no package called ‘haven’
Execution halted
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘hms’ had non-zero exit status
Error in library(haven) : there is no package called ‘haven’
Execution halted
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘BH’ had non-zero exit status
Error in library(haven) : there is no package called ‘haven’
Execution halted
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘tibble’ had non-zero exit status
Error in library(haven) : there is no package called ‘haven’
Execution halted
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘readr’ had non-zero exit status
Error in library(haven) : there is no package called ‘haven’
Execution halted
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘haven’ had non-zero exit status

The downloaded source packages are in
    ‘/tmp/Rtmpia0VEs/downloaded_packages’

When I install it using the already downloaded package, it says

> install.packages("/tmp/Rtmp2Rh9Zr/downloaded_packages/haven_1.0.0.tar.gz")
Installing package into ‘/home/jblocher/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.3’
(as ‘lib’ is unspecified)
Warning in install.packages :
  package ‘/tmp/Rtmp2Rh9Zr/downloaded_packages/haven_1.0.0.tar.gz’ is not available (for R version 3.3.3)

Answer 1

如果要提供要安装的存档文件install.packages ，则可能需要指定repos=NULL ：

install.packages("/tmp/Rtmp2Rh9Zr/downloaded_packages/haven_1.0.0.tar.gz", repos=NULL)

Answer 2

On my EC2 instance, I ran into the same problems when trying to install packages on RStudio, eg, car, that involve RAM-intensive compilations. This could be fixed by adding swap space as described here

http://www.exegetic.biz/blog/2015/06/amazon-ec2-adding-swap/