Without the "extern" keyword external applications linking against R (such as Shogun, for example) might not be linkable. See https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=15899 for details about this bug. --- a/src/include/Rinterface.h (revision 66251) +++ b/src/include/Rinterface.h (working copy) @@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ void fpu_setup(Rboolean); /* in unix/system.c */ -int R_running_as_main_program; +extern int R_running_as_main_program; #ifdef CSTACK_DEFNS /* duplicating Defn.h */