[Rd] Problem installing from source: no CONTENTS files

[Mark.Bravington@csiro.au]

> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk

> This will only happen if you installed R without HTML help 
> and then install a package *with* HTML help *and* do so into 
> a non-standard directory.  That seems an arcane thing to do: 
> why do you want HTML help for some packages and not others?  
> You will end up with a partially functional system.
> 
> The fix is simple: put '-' at the beginning of that line 
> (after the tab) in MakePkg.  I've put a more complete 
> solution in R-devel.

Thanks for the fix. I think the message is more general, though. What I
want to do is install the package just with "vanilla help"-- the stuff
that comes up in the pager. According to "RCMD INSTALL --help" the only
options are "doc=none/normal/chtml/all"-- there's no "vanilla" or
equivalent. If I do "doc=none" I don't get vanilla help. So "doc=normal"
is required, and this tries to do HTML which I don't need. A
vanilla-only option would be ideal, I guess.

> 
> On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 Mark.Bravington at csiro.au wrote:
> 
> > I've just had the error below while trying to install a 
> package from 
> > source under R2.2.1 and Windows XP. I recall encountering this 
> > sporadically in the past. It is a pretty confusing message 
> and took me 
> > quite some time to figure out; I've seen queries about it on the R 

<<snipped>>

> > ---------- Making package debug ------------ <<snipped>> installing 
> > indices
> > cat: C:/R/RW2021/library/*/CONTENTS: No such file or directory

<<snipped>>

> > be used? If not, a different error message would be handy.
> 
> The error message is completely informative: why would you 
> want to change it?

I should have said "an additional error message" instead of "a
different...". It's pretty difficult for a user to track down where &
why it is occurring and whether it matters-- accurate, yes, but not
informative! Anyway, maybe otiose now (the more complete solution hasn't
made it to the R-devel I got this morning, so I can't check yet).

> 
> > I don't understand enough about makefiles to suggest a patch, 
> > unfortunately.
> 
> A good learning project for you?

true no doubt-- but just one out of so many ... :(

Thanks
Mark

> >
> > Mark Bravington
> > CSIRO Mathematical & Information Sciences Marine Laboratory Castray 
> > Esplanade Hobart 7001 TAS
> >
> > ph (+61) 3 6232 5118
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> > mob (+61) 438 315 623
> >
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> >
> >
> 
> -- 
> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
> Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
> University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
> 1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595
> 
>