[Rd] binary R for Fedora Core 2 e tcl

[Marc Schwartz]

On Tue, 2004-05-25 at 07:41, Martyn Plummer wrote: 
> On Tue, 2004-05-25 at 13:04, juan_sr at uol.com.br wrote:
> > I update my linux version of FC1 for FC2.
> > 
> > FC2 uses tcl-8.4.5 and R-1.9.0 (rpm version for FC1, not install/not
> > run).
> > 
> > We have the rpm binary version at FC2?
> 
> Not yet.  I was going to upgrade, but then Marc Schwartz pointed out
> this show-stopping bug, which may destroy your ability to dual-boot
> windows (as I still do)
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=115980
> 
> I have FC2 installed on a test machine. The X server appears to be quite
> buggy (this should be no surprise as R has already been patched to work
> around one bug) and I have some difficulty getting the NIC to work, so I
> am not very impressed.
> 
> Bottom line: If you use FC2 then you are on the bleeding edge, and quite
> possibly over it. I'll try to get RPMs ready for R 1.9.1 but I'm not
> going to hose any of my production machines for your benefit.
> 
> Martyn


A follow on note to Martyn's, as he and I discussed this issue in Vienna
at useR!.

I downloaded the FC2 DVD iso image yesterday and will likely burn and
install it next weekend to see how things go. If I should bleed a
little, the good news is that my wife is a nurse...  ;-)

[I wonder if it was merely coincidence that my KLM flight from Amsterdam
back to Minneapolis on Sunday was named the Florence Nightingale....]

I also dual-boot FC1/WinXP, due to the need for some accounting software
that does not run properly under Linux (or Wine/CrossOver Office) yet.

I will not have to partition (or re-partition) my drive as that has
already been done (including a separate /home partition), so that should
hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls with the dual-boot scenario. The
issues appear to be related to problematic disk geometry representations
post FC2 partitioning operations. 

These issues when experienced, lead to at a minimum, problems booting
into Windows, to at a maximum, the complete loss of the Windows
partition and the data contained within it. This requires a reinstall of
Windows and restoration of offline backups. At minimum, a significant
loss of time.

I run nightly backups and my advice to anyone doing this is to have
offline backups of critical data, etc. before proceeding under this
scenario.

In the mean time, pending an official R RPM that contains the requisite
fixes, for those using FC2, you can download a current R patched tarball
(so that it has the FC2 X related fixes) and compile/install from
source, presuming of course that you have installed the required FC2
devel packages.

I think that Martyn's consideration of waiting on a FC2 RPM for R 1.9.1
is reasonable, since that would be an official R release with the FC2
related fixes.  Otherwise, it becomes to an extent, an arbitrary
decision as to which R patched tarball to use as the basis for a R
1.9.0.X FC2 RPM. That could complicate support.

HTH,

Marc Schwartz