XLConnect is, as the manual describes it, "a package that allows for reading, writing and manipulation of Microsoft Excel files from within R".
Installation on Windows and Linux is straightforward. Simply tell R to install.packages("XLConnect"), and you're done. On OS X you need to use install.packages("XLConnect", type="source"), the installation instructions say.
Trying this under OS 10.8.2, R output a number of error messages. I post them here, so Google can send people with similar problems to this Q and A. For a solution to the problem, scroll down.
R output:
> install.packages("XLConnect", type = "source")
also installing the dependencies ‘XLConnectJars’, ‘rJava’
versuche URL 'http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/misc/cran/src/contrib/XLConnectJars_0.2-4.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 16539227 bytes (15.8 Mb)
URL geöffnet
==================================================
downloaded 15.8 Mb
versuche URL 'http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/misc/cran/src/contrib/rJava_0.9-3.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 537153 bytes (524 Kb)
URL geöffnet
==================================================
downloaded 524 Kb
versuche URL 'http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/misc/cran/src/contrib/XLConnect_0.2-4.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 1719698 bytes (1.6 Mb)
URL geöffnet
==================================================
downloaded 1.6 Mb
* installing *source* package ‘rJava’ ...
** Paket ‘rJava’ erfolgreich entpackt und MD5 Summen überprüft
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/config: line 142: make: command not found
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/config: line 143: make: command not found
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/config: line 219: make: command not found
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/config: line 142: make: command not found
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/config: line 143: make: command not found
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/config: line 219: make: command not found
checking for gcc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cl.exe... no
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH
See `config.log' for more details.
ERROR: configuration failed for package ‘rJava’
* removing ‘/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/2.15/Resources/library/rJava’
ERROR: dependency ‘rJava’ is not available for package ‘XLConnectJars’
* removing ‘/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/2.15/Resources/library/XLConnectJars’
ERROR: dependencies ‘XLConnectJars’, ‘rJava’ are not available for package ‘XLConnect’
* removing ‘/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/2.15/Resources/library/XLConnect’
Die heruntergeladenen Quellpakete sind in
‘/private/var/folders/some/path/to/downloaded_packages’
Warnmeldungen:
1: In install.packages("XLConnect", type = "source") :
Installation des Pakets ‘rJava’ hatte Exit-Status ungleich 0
2: In install.packages("XLConnect", type = "source") :
Installation des Pakets ‘XLConnectJars’ hatte Exit-Status ungleich 0
3: In install.packages("XLConnect", type = "source") :
Installation des Pakets ‘XLConnect’ hatte Exit-Status ungleich 0
> library(XLConnect)
Fehler in library(XLConnect) : es gibt kein Paket namens ‘XLConnect’