Installing R package ERROR: installing binary package failed

Question

Complete newbie here, so there is probably something glaringly bad here. I created a Project following Hadley Wickham's book on R packages, and now I am trying add it to github for remote install ( repository for reference ).

Running devtools::install_github("alutterb/abcmlr") generated the following output:

Downloading GitHub repo alutterb/abcmlr@master
√  checking for file 'C:\Users\amlut\AppData\Local\Temp\RtmpMpn5uJ\remotes7146c405dd7\alutterb-abcmlr-918bf05/DESCRIPTION' ...
-  preparing 'abcmlr':
√  checking DESCRIPTION meta-information ... 
-  checking for LF line-endings in source and make files and shell scripts
-  checking for empty or unneeded directories
-  building 'abcmlr_0.1.0.tar.gz'

Installing package into ‘C:/Users/amlut/Documents/R/win-library/3.5’
(as ‘lib’ is unspecified)
* installing *binary* package 'abcmlr' ...
cp: unknown option -- )
Try '/Rtools/bin/cp --help' for more information.
ERROR: installing binary package failed
* removing 'C:/Users/amlut/Documents/R/win-library/3.5/abcmlr'
In R CMD INSTALL
Error in i.p(...) : 
  (converted from warning) installation of package ‘C:/Users/amlut/AppData/Local/Temp/RtmpMpn5uJ/file71463953e7b/abcmlr_0.1.0.tar.gz’ had non-zero exit status

In my repository, I have a Linux executable that is to be used with wsl as well as an .exe file that is called in my R code. These may be the culprits, but I am not entirely sure. The error states that it failed to install the binary package, but install_github() takes a source package, so I am not sure what is going on. Any help is appreciated.

Thank you.

EDIT: This problem is solved. It was because of a line in my DESCRIPTION file that had to do with Built .

Answer 1

Check your %PATH% and type: where cp .

Another cp (like one from the Git for Windows distribution) might overshadow the RTools cp , which might explain the error message.

---

As commented by the OP hkj447 , the error was trigger by a line in the DESCRIPTION file:

Built: R 3.5.3; ; 2019-06-14 21:17:43 UTC; windows

As seen in this thread :

You have a field called ' Built: ' in your package's DESCRIPTION file;
R normally tries to inject that field itself when it builds your package from sources.

I deleted " Built "'s line in DESCRIPTION and then installed again.
This time, no error appeared.