Error installing R package sf 0.9.0 after updating gdal on macOS

Question

I've had sf and rproj working on mac forever, and still working since upgrading to Catalina / R 3.6.2.

I tried to install the latest version of sf (0.9.0), both from CRAN and the dev version, and get errors both ways, configure: error: libproj not found in standard or given locations.

I've gone through and removed every last trace of gdal and proj on my computer, uninstalled both, reinstalled, and still same issue. And now, trying to install older versions of sf (0.8.1) that I know worked on my computer also fails. Absolutely stumped here!

GDAL 2.4.4, released 2020/01/08

R v3.6.2

macOS 10.15.3

configure: CC: clang
configure: CXX: clang++ -std=gnu++11
checking for gdal-config... /usr/local/bin/gdal-config
checking gdal-config usability... yes
configure: GDAL: 2.4.4
checking GDAL version >= 2.0.1... yes
checking for gcc... clang
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking for suffix of executables... 
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether clang accepts -g... yes
checking for clang option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking how to run the C preprocessor... clang -E
checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /usr/bin/grep
checking for egrep... /usr/bin/grep -E
checking for ANSI C header files... yes
checking for sys/types.h... yes
checking for sys/stat.h... yes
checking for stdlib.h... yes
checking for string.h... yes
checking for memory.h... yes
checking for strings.h... yes
checking for inttypes.h... yes
checking for stdint.h... yes
checking for unistd.h... yes
checking gdal.h usability... yes
checking gdal.h presence... yes
checking for gdal.h... yes
checking GDAL: linking with --libs only... yes
checking GDAL: /usr/local/Cellar/gdal/2.4.4_2/share/gdal/pcs.csv readable... yes
checking GDAL: checking whether PROJ is available for linking:... yes
checking GDAL: checking whether PROJ is available fur running:... yes
configure: GDAL: 2.4.4
checking proj.h usability... yes
checking proj.h presence... yes
checking for proj.h... yes
checking PROJ: checking whether PROJ and sqlite3 are available for linking:... no
configure: error: libproj not found in standard or given locations.

for rgdal...

* installing *source* package ‘rgdal’ ...
** package ‘rgdal’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked
** using staged installation
configure: R_HOME: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources
configure: CC: clang
configure: CXX: clang++ -std=gnu++11
configure: C++11 support available
configure: rgdal: 1.4-7
checking for /usr/bin/svnversion... yes
configure: svn revision: 845
checking for gdal-config... /usr/local/bin/gdal-config
checking gdal-config usability... yes
configure: GDAL: 2.4.4
checking C++11 support for GDAL >= 2.3.0... yes
checking GDAL version >= 1.11.4... yes
checking GDAL version <= 2.5 or >= 3.0... yes
checking gdal: linking with --libs only... yes
checking GDAL: gdal-config data directory readable... yes
checking GDAL: /usr/local/Cellar/gdal/2.4.4_2/share/gdal/pcs.csv readable... yes
configure: pkg-config proj not available
  set PKG_CONFIG_PATH to the directory containing proj.pc
configure: PROJ version not determined using pkg-config proj
configure: proj CPP flags:  -I/usr/local/Cellar/gdal/2.4.4_2/include
configure: PROJ LIBS:  -lproj
checking PROJ header API:... proj_api.h
checking proj_api.h presence and usability... no
configure: error: proj_api.h not found in standard or given locations.
ERROR: configuration failed for package ‘rgdal’
* removing ‘/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/3.6/Resources/library/rgdal

Answer 1

Finally found a solution after many hours of digging here if anyone else comes across this problem.

Answer 2

A solution that works for me. I have posted it in: https://biostatsr.blogspot.com/2021/05/install-sf-from-github-source-in-macosx.html

In terminal. You must have MacBrew installed. If not, use:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Then

brew install proj

brew install gdal

brew install geos

sudo R

Then in R:

 library("devtools")

 install_github("r-spatial/sf", configure.args = "--with-proj-include=/usr/local/include --with-proj-lib=/usr/local/lib")

And...

packageVersion("sf")

[1] ‘0.9.9’