How to specify header search path when using R CMD SHLIB to compile a C++ file?

Question

I'm trying to compile a C++ file which uses the Boost library on Mac OSX. For example, see the following "simple.cpp"

#include <boost/random.hpp>
using namesapce boost::math;

int main(){
    boost::mt19937 rng;
    rng.seed(static_cast<boost::uint32_t> (std::time(0)));

    return 0;
}

If I compile the file in the command shell with

g++ -I/usr/local/boost simple.cpp

then everything is fine. But I'd like to build a shared library so that I can use it to speed up my R project. If I use

R CMD SHLIB test.cpp

then it reports the header file can not be found. Is there a way to specify the search path for R CMD? Something like

R CMD SHLIB -I/usr/local/boost test.cpp

Answer 1

You want to set PKG_CXXFLAGS -- see the fine manual's Section 1.2. "Using Makevars" as well as Section 5.5 "Creating shared objects" for details.