error installing rpy2 on os x 10.6: unable to execute gcc-4.0

Question

I am attempting to install rpy2 using pip with:

    $ sudo pip install rpy2

which exits with an error:

    gcc-4.0 -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -dynamic -arch ppc -arch i386 -g -O2 -DNDEBUG -g -O3 -DR_INTERFACE_PTRS=1 -DHAVE_POSIX_SIGJMP=1 -DCSTACK_DEFNS=1 -DRIF_HAS_RSIGHAND=1 -I./rpy/rinterface -I/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/include/python2.7 -I/opt/local/lib/R/include/x86_64 -I/opt/local/lib/R/include -c ./rpy/rinterface/_rinterface.c -o build/temp.macosx-10.3-fat-2.7/./rpy/rinterface/_rinterface.o

    unable to execute gcc-4.0: No such file or directory

    error: command 'gcc-4.0' failed with exit status 1

I have attempted to also install rpy2 with macports, however the install completed but rpy2 would not import. I have install XCode, Version 4.0.2 Build 4A2002a, and gcc is installed.

    $ which gcc

returns:

    /usr/bin/gcc

and

    $ gcc

returns:

    i686-apple-darwin10-gcc-4.2.1: no input files

It seems that it is looking for an older version of gcc and I have no idea how to point it in the right place. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It seems to think that you're using OSX 10.3: build/temp.macosx-10.3, which might be the reason why it's trying to look for an old gcc compiler.

You should be able to overwrite the compiler with the CC environment:

export CC=gcc 
pip install rpy2

I think it's a typical distutils issue.