[Rd] SPSS I/O dll was: 8 char labels in read.spss

[Thomas Lumley]

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005, Knut Krueger wrote:
> Thomas Lumley schrieb:
>> On Tue, 11 Oct 2005, Knut Krueger wrote:
>>> I found a definition of the SPSS files.
>>> http://www.wotsit.org/download.asp?f=spssdata
>>> but they recommend to use the spss input/output dll to ensure upward
>>> compatbility
>>>
>> "Well, they would say that, wouldn't they" (Rice-Davis 1963)
>>
>> Unfortunately, that document is an old file format. It doesn't describe
>> record 7 subtype 13, which is where the long variable names live.
>>
> What about using the SPSS input dll for those R users which would like to use their old SPSS files. Most universities here have SPSS licences and therefor the dll is available.
> I did not found yet any copyright notice on the developer part of the SPSS CD. Maybe the DLL is usable with the own program without the SPSS Licence. I will look for that if using the I/O dll is possible with R.
> All necessary C codes are delivered with the developer kit on the SPSS CD.
>

Yes, but it can't be incorporated in the  "foreign" package, which has a 
GPL license, and in any case wouldn't work off Windows.  It's not clear 
that it would be much easier than using the PSPP code in any case.

 	-thomas