install.packages(“tm”) -> “dependency 'slam' is not available”

Question

I'm trying to install the tm package on IBM's Data Science Experience (DSX):

install.packages("tm")

However, I'm hitting this issue:

"dependency 'slam' is not available"

This post suggests that R version 3.3.1 will resolve the issue, however the R version on DSX is: R version 3.3.0 (2016-05-03)

How can I resolve this issue on IBM DSX? Note that you don't have root access on DSX.

I've seen similar questions on stackoverflow, but none are asking how to fix the issue on IBM DSX, e.g. dependency ‘slam’ is not available when installing TM package

---

Update:

install.packages("slam")

Returns:

Installing package into '/gpfs/global_fs01/sym_shared/YPProdSpark/user/s85d-88ebffb000cc3e-39ca506ba762/R/libs'
(as 'lib' is unspecified)
Warning message:
"package 'slam' is not available (for R version 3.3.0)"

Answer 1

If you try to install slam with install.packages(), then the version 0.1.40 will be used from CRAN. According to your error and the DESCRIPTION file of the library, it has the dependency on R (>= 3.3.1).

If a older version of slam is useful for you, then you can install it from the CRAN archives. See https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/Archive/slam/

According to the documentation for tm, it has a dependency on slam (≥ 0.1-31). See https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/tm/index.html

Previous versions have a dependency on older R versions. The following code worked for me to install slam_0.1.37 on DSX:

library(devtools)
install_url("https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/Archive/slam/slam_0.1-37.tar.gz")

# test slam
library(slam)
a <- as.simple_sparse_array(1:3)
a
extend_simple_sparse_array(a, c( 0L, 1L))

Answer 2

You need to install slam either by

install.packages("slam")

OR

slam_url <- "https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/Archive/slam/slam_0.1-37.tar.gz"
install_url(slam_url)

Answer 3

try sudo apt-get install r-cran-slam (worked for lubuntu)