building R with debug symbols

[macporter90210@…]

I want to build R with debug symbols so I can more easily debug my C extensions and how they interact with R. I modified the portfile to use apple's gcc and the -g flag. It installed fine, but it seems that the debug symbols aren't found by gdb.

1. What should I do so that when I compile with -g, the symbols can be found?
2. Do I need to use apple's rather than the mp gcc to do this?
3. I think other people might find this useful so it would be nice if the debug variant, after appropriate corrections can be added to the port.

I attach the port diff.

[macporter90210@…]

portfile diff to add debug variant - doesn't seem to work

[macporter90210@…]

The -k option as

port -k install r +apple42debug -gcc44

seems to do it.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

The "-k" flag means keep the build files after installation; I suppose this is necessary for debugging.

The port currently forces the use of MacPorts gcc complier; I assume the maintainer has a good reason to do this and that we should not then offer the choice to override that.

Would just this work? (Untested)

variant debug {Build with debug symbols} { 
    configure.optflags-append -g 
}