Windows: Compiler issue while installing in R ; Errors in 'ymake_conf.py'

[Mrugankakarte]

Windows 10 Home Single Language
R-version: 3.4.1 -- 'Single Candle'
Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit)
Python: 3.5.2
Visual Studio 2017 Community Edition

> devtools::install()
Installing catboost
"C:/PROGRA~1/R/R-34~1.1/bin/x64/R" --no-site-file --no-environ --no-save --no-restore --quiet CMD  \
  INSTALL "C:/Users/Mrugank/catboost/catboost/R-package"  \
  --library="C:/Users/Mrugank/Documents/R/win-library/3.4" --install-tests 

* installing *source* package 'catboost' ...
** libs
  running 'src/Makefile.win' ...
/cygdrive/c/Users/Mrugank/catboost/catboost/R-package/src/../../../ya.bat make -r -o ../../..
2017-07-19T15:39:16.270000 [MainThread] Info: Attention! Using system user-defined compiler: cl.exe (check CC and CXX env vars).

Config was not generated due to errors in C:\Users\Mrugank\catboost\build\ymake_conf.py
ERROR:root:In toolchain theyknow, detected system cl compiler from VS version 15.0
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Mrugank\catboost\build\ymake_conf.py", line 2290, in <module>
    main()
  File "C:\Users\Mrugank\catboost\build\ymake_conf.py", line 2277, in main
    tc_params["platform"]["target"]["arch"])
  File "C:\Users\Mrugank\catboost\build\ymake_conf.py", line 757, in print_full_build_type
    tc = Toolchain(toolchain_name)
  File "C:\Users\Mrugank\catboost\build\ymake_conf.py", line 660, in __init__
    self.toolchain_by_cxx_compiler_file_name()
  File "C:\Users\Mrugank\catboost\build\ymake_conf.py", line 698, in toolchain_by_cxx_compiler_file_name
    cxx_info[3](self)
  File "C:\Users\Mrugank\catboost\build\ymake_conf.py", line 706, in detect_msvc_
    detect_msvc(self)
  File "C:\Users\Mrugank\catboost\build\ymake_conf.py", line 1590, in detect_msvc
    vc_key = _winreg.OpenKey(_winreg.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, r"SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxS\Vc7")
WindowsError: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified

make: *** [libcatboostr.dll] Error 1
Warning: running command 'make --no-print-directory -f "Makefile.win"' had status 2
ERROR: compilation failed for package 'catboost'
* removing 'C:/Users/Mrugank/Documents/R/win-library/3.4/catboost'
Error: Command failed (1)

If I build and then install, I get following error

> devtools::build()
"C:/PROGRA~1/R/R-34~1.1/bin/x64/R" --no-site-file --no-environ --no-save --no-restore --quiet CMD  \
  build "C:\Users\Mrugank\catboost\catboost\R-package" --no-resave-data --no-manual 

* checking for file 'C:\Users\Mrugank\catboost\catboost\R-package/DESCRIPTION' ... OK
* preparing 'catboost':
* checking DESCRIPTION meta-information ... OK
* cleaning src
* checking for LF line-endings in source and make files
* checking for empty or unneeded directories
* building 'catboost_0.1.1.2.tar.gz'

[1] "C:/Users/Mrugank/catboost/catboost/catboost_0.1.1.2.tar.gz"
> setwd("C:/Users/Mrugank/catboost/catboost")
> install.packages("catboost_0.1.1.2.tar.gz")
Warning in install.packages :
  cannot open URL 'http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/pub/RWin/src/contrib/PACKAGES.rds': HTTP status was '404 Not Found'
Installing package into ‘C:/Users/Mrugank/Documents/R/win-library/3.4’
(as ‘lib’ is unspecified)
Warning in install.packages :
  package ‘catboost_0.1.1.2.tar.gz’ is not available (for R version 3.4.1)

[ferrr]

You also need Visual C++ 2015 Build Tools. Our integration with R on Windows is kinda fragile, but it works. We are investigating alternatives to improve this. For now, R binding installation is much more stable on Darwin and Linux.

[Mrugankakarte]

@ferrr Thanks a lot..Its working now.
Got something in between..you might want to take a look at it.

------- [CC] $(S)\catboost\libs\data\load_data.cpp
c:\users\mrugank\catboost\catboost\libs\data\load_data.cpp(114): warning C4265: 'TPoolBuilder': class has virtual functions, but destructor is not virtual

         instances of this class may not be destructed correctly
|84.6%| [CC] $(S)\catboost\libs\algo\metric.cpp
|84.9%| [LD] $(B)\contrib\tools\protoc\protoc.{exe, pdb}
...

[grayskripko]

I installed both 2015 and 2017 (for Windows 10).
2015 components: Desktop development with C++, Visual Studio extension development.
2017 components: Windows 10 SDK as a part of Visual C++ build tools.
I'm sure some components are redundant but it has worked

[jurbanhost]

Visual C++ 2017 Build Tools only worked for me, not 2015

Please tell me which component should be installed from Visual C++ 2017 Build Tools ? I have VS 2017 Community Edition with installed VC 2017 tools for build classic C++ applications - but problem still there.

[Mrugankakarte]

Just go to the link provided by ferr at top. Install from there....its about 4GB ....I did same and my problem was solved

[grayskripko]

[jurbanhost]

thanks, grayskripko! I installed them, and got this:

/cygdrive/c/Users/xxx/AppData/Local/Temp/RtmpMJgk0D/devtools3b0838d8799f/catboost-catboost-39fb9df/catboost/R-package/src/../../../ya.bat make -r -o ../../..
2017-07-20T17:29:07.315000 [MainThread] Info: Attention! Using system user-defined compiler: cl.exe (check CC and CXX env vars).

Config was not generated due to errors in C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\RtmpMJgk0D\devtools3b0838d8799f\catboost-catboost-39fb9df\build\ymake_conf.py
ERROR:root:In toolchain theyknow, detected system cl compiler from VS version 15.0
ERROR:root:Could not find VC shared version 14.0 for C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.10.25017\bin\HostX64\x64\cl.exe

[jurbanhost]

@grayskripko thanks a lot, successfull, Visual C++ 2015 Build Tools working for me