diff --git a/Doc/Manual/R.html b/Doc/Manual/R.html
index 0ed43fc52..e8cee6448 100644
--- a/Doc/Manual/R.html
+++ b/Doc/Manual/R.html
@@ -56,28 +56,48 @@ example.c is the name of the file with the functions in them
 <div class="shell">
 <pre>
 swig -r example.i
-PKG_LIBS="example.c" R CMD SHLIB example_wrap.c
+R CMD SHLIB example_wrap.c example.c
 </pre>
 </div>
 
 <p>
-The corresponding comments for C++ mode are
+The corresponding options for C++ mode are
 </p>
 
 <div class="shell">
 <pre>
 swig -c++ -r -o example_wrap.cpp example.i
-PKG_LIBS="example.cxx" R CMD SHLIB example_wrap.cpp
+R CMD SHLIB example_wrap.cpp example.cpp
 </pre>
 </div>
 
 <p>
-Note that R is sensitive to the name of the file and to the file
-extension in C and C++ mode.  The name of the wrapper file must be the
-name of the library.  Also in C++ mode, the file extension must be .cpp
-rather than .cxx for the R compile command to recognize it.
+Note that R is sensitive to the names of the files.
+The name of the wrapper file must be the
+name of the library unless you use the -o option to R when building the library, for example:
 </p>
 
+<div class="shell">
+<pre>
+swig -c++ -r -o example_wrap.cpp example.i
+R CMD SHLIB -o example.so example_wrap.cpp example.cpp
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+R is also sensitive to the name of the file 
+extension in C and C++ mode. In C++ mode, the file extension must be .cpp
+rather than .cxx for the R compile command to recognize it. If your C++ code is 
+in a file using something other than a .cpp extension, then it may still work using PKG_LIBS:
+</p>
+
+<div class="shell">
+<pre>
+swig -c++ -r -o example_wrap.cpp example.i
+PKG_LIBS="example.cxx" R CMD SHLIB -o example example_wrap.cpp
+</pre>
+</div>
+
 <p>
 The commands produces two files.  A dynamic shared object file called
 example.so, or example.dll, and an R wrapper file called example.R.  To load these
diff --git a/Examples/Makefile.in b/Examples/Makefile.in
index cb8b7f4d4..9dee0347f 100644
--- a/Examples/Makefile.in
+++ b/Examples/Makefile.in
@@ -1129,11 +1129,11 @@ RRSRC = $(INTERFACE:.i=.R)
 
 r: $(SRCS)
 	$(SWIG) -r $(SWIGOPT) $(INTERFACEPATH)
-	+( PKG_LIBS="$(SRCS)" PKG_CPPFLAGS="$(INCLUDES)" $(COMPILETOOL) $(R) CMD SHLIB -fPIC -o $(LIBPREFIX)$(TARGET)$(SO) $(ISRCS) )
+	+( PKG_CPPFLAGS="$(INCLUDES)" $(COMPILETOOL) $(R) CMD SHLIB -o $(LIBPREFIX)$(TARGET)$(SO) $(ISRCS) $(SRCS) )
 
 r_cpp: $(CXXSRCS)
 	$(SWIG) -c++ -r $(SWIGOPT) -o $(RCXXSRCS) $(INTERFACEPATH)
-	+( PKG_LIBS="$(CXXSRCS)" PKG_CPPFLAGS="$(INCLUDES)" $(COMPILETOOL) $(R) CMD SHLIB -fPIC -o $(LIBPREFIX)$(TARGET)$(SO) $(RCXXSRCS) )
+	+( PKG_CPPFLAGS="$(INCLUDES)" $(COMPILETOOL) $(R) CMD SHLIB -o $(LIBPREFIX)$(TARGET)$(SO) $(RCXXSRCS) $(SRCS) $(CXXSRCS))
 
 r_clean:
 	rm -f *_wrap* *~ .~*
diff --git a/Examples/r/class/Makefile b/Examples/r/class/Makefile
index 6bed3ce53..0cd8ed3d3 100644
--- a/Examples/r/class/Makefile
+++ b/Examples/r/class/Makefile
@@ -3,16 +3,13 @@ SWIG       = $(TOP)/../preinst-swig
 CXXSRCS    = example.cxx
 TARGET     = example
 INTERFACE  = example.i
-LIBS       = -lm
-ARGS = SRCS='$(SRCS)' SWIG='$(SWIG)' \
-	TARGET='$(TARGET)' INTERFACE='$(INTERFACE)'
 
 all::
 	$(MAKE) -f $(TOP)/Makefile CXXSRCS='$(CXXSRCS)' SWIG='$(SWIG)' \
 	TARGET='$(TARGET)' INTERFACE='$(INTERFACE)' r_cpp
 
 clean::
-	$(MAKE) -f $(TOP)/Makefile $(ARGS) r_clean
+	$(MAKE) -f $(TOP)/Makefile INTERFACE='$(INTERFACE)' r_clean
 
 check: all
 	R CMD BATCH runme.R
diff --git a/Examples/r/simple/Makefile b/Examples/r/simple/Makefile
index e01d35925..5ef29565a 100644
--- a/Examples/r/simple/Makefile
+++ b/Examples/r/simple/Makefile
@@ -3,14 +3,13 @@ SWIG       = $(TOP)/../preinst-swig
 SRCS       = example.c
 TARGET     = example
 INTERFACE  = example.i
-ARGS = SRCS='$(SRCS)' SWIG='$(SWIG)' \
-	TARGET='$(TARGET)' INTERFACE='$(INTERFACE)'
 
 all::
-	$(MAKE) -f $(TOP)/Makefile $(ARGS) r
+	$(MAKE) -f $(TOP)/Makefile SRCS='$(SRCS)' SWIG='$(SWIG)' \
+	TARGET='$(TARGET)' INTERFACE='$(INTERFACE)' r
 
 clean::
-	$(MAKE) -f $(TOP)/Makefile $(ARGS) r_clean
+	$(MAKE) -f $(TOP)/Makefile INTERFACE='$(INTERFACE)' r_clean
 
 check: all
 	R CMD BATCH runme.R