[R] R 2.10 under Windows XP: glitches and successes

Thu Oct 29 15:42:02 CET 2009

On 29/10/2009 10:23 AM, Blair Christian wrote:
> On a related note, on windows xp + ESS + R 2.9.2, I have long waits when I
> run:
> 
> browseURL( unitTestOutFile,  browser="C:/Program Files/Mozilla
> Firefox/firefox.exe")
> 
> Firefox is always already open, and sometimes the old test results are
> already open too.  Sometimes it takes minutes to open up, sometimes using
> submit+step in emacs seems to be correlated with this getting this to go a
> bit faster (but I can't tell what causes the huge variation in time opening
> the webpage)...  I'm upgrading to 2.10.x next time I can schedule it on my
> work machine.

You should probably report ESS problems to their mailing list.  I don't 
use it or support it, and I don't know if they'll read this message 
since it doesn't mention ESS in the subject line.

Duncan Murdoch

> 
> Blair
> 
> 
> On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 9:42 AM, Duncan Murdoch <murdoch at stats.uwo.ca>wrote:
> 
>> On 29/10/2009 9:26 AM, James W. MacDonald wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Duncan,
>>>
>>> Duncan Murdoch wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 28/10/2009 5:54 PM, Ross Boylan wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I just installed 2.10 on XP; ESS is my primary interface.
>>>>>
>>>>> I seem to be able to access all the help files; under 2.8.1 I was having
>>>>> seemingly random problems accessing some help topics (including one day
>>>>> I could and a few days later I couldn't, and vice-versa).  That's good.
>>>>>
>>>>> I noticed a few glitches.
>>>>>
>>>>> First, the installer asks if you want text, CHM, or HTML help, but
>>>>> offers only text or HTML.  I understand CHM has been removed; I guess
>>>>> this is just an old message.
>>>>>
>>>> Yes, already fixed in the patched version.
>>>>
>>>>  Second, install.packages("intervals") produced the usual line about
>>>>> selecting a mirror, but no selection list popped up.  It just sat there
>>>>> until I interrupted the session and reentered the command with a
>>>>> pre-specified repos.  I selected custom install but took the defaults; I
>>>>> noticed there was some optional tk/tcl stuff (which I did not select);
>>>>> I'm guessing it's required for these selections.  Perhaps it should be
>>>>> installed by default?
>>>>>
>>>> That's something I haven't seen before.  I do get the mirror dialog, and
>>>> it doesn't use tcl/tk, so I'd appreciate hearing if you can spot any pattern
>>>> here (including the pattern "I never get it").  (The install option is about
>>>> installing the tcl/tk help files:  mainly useful if you're developing with
>>>> tcl/tk, not necessary for most users.  The Tcl/tk code itself is always
>>>> installed.)  It could be that R is being blocked by your anti-virus
>>>> software; what it's trying to do is to read a list of mirrors from
>>>>
>>> This is a longstanding problem for R under ess/emacs on Windows (and maybe
>>> Xemacs as well, but I don't know for sure).
>>>
>> Okay, I'll leave it to those guys to debug.  If R is doing something it
>> shouldn't, let me know what, and I'll try to fix it.  (I'd guess the problem
>> is that Emacs makes assumptions about the OS that just aren't true in
>> Windows, but it might be a bug we could work around.)
>>
>> Duncan Murdoch
>>
>>
>>
>>> This problem manifests itself in install.packages(), but the real problem
>>> comes from the line
>>>
>>>  if (.Platform$OS.type == "windows" | .Platform$GUI == "AQUA")
>>>         return(.Internal(select.list(list, preselect, multiple,
>>>             title)))
>>>
>>> in select.list(). If you run R under ess/emacs and do something as simple
>>> as
>>>
>>> select.list(letters)
>>>
>>> it will freeze and you have to use C-g, C-c C-c to 'unfreeze'.
>>> Paradoxically, after doing so, select.list() will then function correctly.
>>>
>>> You can get around this problem by first loading the tcltk package, if
>>> that is of any help.
>>>
>>> This problem only occurs under emacs/ess; if you run R from a DOS prompt
>>> or via the GUI then select.list() works correctly the first time.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>>
>>>  http://cran.r-project.org/CRAN_mirrors.csv
>>>> using the code in getCRANmirrors().  If that download fails or is delayed
>>>> forever, you won't get the selection list.
>>>>
>>>>  Third, every time one asks for help on a new topic there is a
>>>>> considerable delay (seemed like forever, probably c 15 seconds) before
>>>>> the help comes up.  My first thought was that the on-demand help was
>>>>> being assembled, but I didn't see much CPU use.  It might be latency in
>>>>> talking to MSIE, and this latency might even be from my (Sophos)
>>>>> antivirus software, which kept warning me about a program suspiciously
>>>>> launching MSIE.  If you ask for help you already requested there is no
>>>>> delay (good) and it does not focus on the tab with the relevant help
>>>>> (which strikes me as the ideal behavior, though it may be hard to do).
>>>>>
>>>> When you ask for help the first time, it starts the internal server, but
>>>> that should be fast.  Then it passes the URL to Windows to open, and Windows
>>>> needs to open the browser to show it, which tends to be slow. When you ask
>>>> subsequently, it will send the request to Windows again, but if the browser
>>>> is open, that should be quick.  I'd guess this is your antivirus checking
>>>> out the URL; when I do it (with no antivirus checking on such things) it's
>>>> pretty slow on the first occurence (because it needs to start Firefox), then
>>>> pretty fast after that.
>>>>
>>>>  Fourth, I read the previous comments about how more beta testers would
>>>>> be useful :)
>>>>>
>>>> Yep.
>>>>
>>>> Duncan Murdoch
>>>>
>>>>  ______________________________________________
>>>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>>>
>>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
> 
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> ______________________________________________
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> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.