reluctant to read win95 directory (PR#231)
John Peters
John.Peters@tip.csiro.au
Fri, 23 Jul 1999 18:51:48 +1000 (EST)
Prof Brian D Ripley writes:
> Why was this a bug report? It does not seem to me to meet the requirements
> of a bug given in the R FAQ.
>
> On 22 Jul 1999, Peter Dalgaard BSA wrote:
>
> > John.Peters@tip.csiro.au writes:
> >
> > > Using rw0642 under win95, on executing from a directory on the c: drive:
> > >
> > > system("command.com /c dir", intern=T)
> > >
> > > there is a whirring from drive a: (empty), then the message appears in a
> > > dos box:
> > >
> > > General failure reading device aLP!!?
> > > Abort, Retry, Fail?
> >
> > Not that I know anything about Windows, but is there a chance that the
> > machine goes looking for command.com on the diskette? I.e. you want
> > c:\\windows\\command.com instead.
>
> Not on my machine: that command works for me.
>
> What do you (John) expect this command to do? In particular, what directory
> does you expect it to list? You have not told it, and Windows has quite
> complicated rules for finding the current working directory. My guess
> is that those rules are giving a: in your circumstances. Put a floppy
> in and find out.
>
> Tip: using shell() would be much simpler. Try ?shell (on Windows only).
Firstly a workaround (fix?):
Disable McAfee VirusScan 4.0.2/4.0.4032. If this means it could
be described as more an incompatibility than a bug I apologise.
Secondly to respond to the comments and suggestions (McAfee enabled):
What do I expect this command to do:
To read the names of the files in the current directory for assignment
to a vector. By current directory I mean the one named in the win95
shortcut "Start in:" box, which is also the one initially offered by the
Rgui pull down "File - Change dir". It succeeds in this, but not on the
first attempt.
Put a floppy in drive a:
Less whirring, but same result. Hitting "a" gives the behaviour I
described. Hitting "f" succeeds after a few tries, but next time again
needs a few tries before succeeding. So far it seems exactly four "f"s
or three "a"s are required.
Try shell():
Both the following cause the same behaviour as with "system()":
shell("dir c:\\tmp\\9907","c:\\windows\\command.com",intern=T)
shell("dir","command.com",intern=T)
Many thanks
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John Peters
CSIRO National Measurement Laboratory
PO Box 218 Phone: +61 2 9413 7503
Lindfield NSW 2070 Fax: +61 2 9413 7202
Australia Internet: John.Peters@tip.CSIRO.AU
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