[Rd] CRAN task views work only once per session (PR#9330)

[k.ponting at aurix.com]

Cran task views seems to be a "once-per-session" process -- the first
attempt to access views in a (RGui for Windows) session works, but
subsequent attempts fail. There is a noticeably long pause before
the failing call returns.

Example session with two calls to "available.views" follows, but similar
effects have been observed with two calls to "install.views" and even
a call to "available.views" followed by a call to "install.views".


R version 2.4.0 (2006-10-03)
Copyright (C) 2006 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing
ISBN 3-900051-07-0

R is free software and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
You are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions.
Type 'license()' or 'licence()' for distribution details.

  Natural language support but running in an English locale

R is a collaborative project with many contributors.
Type 'contributors()' for more information and
'citation()' on how to cite R or R packages in publications.

Type 'demo()' for some demos, 'help()' for on-line help, or
'help.start()' for an HTML browser interface to help.
Type 'q()' to quit R.

> sessionInfo()
R version 2.4.0 (2006-10-03) 
i386-pc-mingw32 

locale:
LC_COLLATE=English_United Kingdom.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_United
Kingdom.1252;LC_MONETARY=English_United
Kingdom.1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_United Kingdom.1252

attached base packages:
[1] "methods"   "stats"     "graphics"  "grDevices" "utils"
"datasets" 
[7] "base"     
> available.views(repos="http://cran.uk.r-project.org")
Error: could not find function "available.views"
> library(ctv)
> available.views(repos="http://cran.uk.r-project.org")

CRAN Task Views
---------------
Name: Bayesian
Topic: Bayesian Inference
Maintainer: Jong Hee Park
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: Cluster
Topic: Cluster Analysis & Finite Mixture Models
Maintainer: Friedrich Leisch and Bettina Gruen
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: Econometrics
Topic: Computational Econometrics
Maintainer: Achim Zeileis
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: Environmetrics
Topic: Analysis of ecological and environmental data
Maintainer: Gavin Simpson
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: Finance
Topic: Empirical Finance
Maintainer: Dirk Eddelbuettel
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: Genetics
Topic: Statistical Genetics
Maintainer: Giovanni Montana
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: Graphics
Topic: Graphic Displays & Dynamic Graphics & Graphic Devices &  
   Visualization
Maintainer: Nicholas Lewin-Koh
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: MachineLearning
Topic: Machine Learning & Statistical Learning
Maintainer: Torsten Hothorn
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: Multivariate
Topic: Multivariate Statistics
Maintainer: Paul Hewson
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: SocialSciences
Topic: Statistics for the Social Sciences
Maintainer: John Fox
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: Spatial
Topic: Analysis of Spatial Data
Maintainer: Roger Bivand
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org
---------------
Name: gR
Topic: gRaphical models in R
Maintainer: Claus Dethlefsen
Repository: http://cran.uk.r-project.org

> available.views(repos="http://cran.uk.r-project.org")

CRAN Task Views
no views found
> 
--please do not edit the information below--

Version:
 platform = i386-pc-mingw32
 arch = i386
 os = mingw32
 system = i386, mingw32
 status = 
 major = 2
 minor = 4.0
 year = 2006
 month = 10
 day = 03
 svn rev = 39566
 language = R
 version.string = R version 2.4.0 (2006-10-03)

Windows XP Professional (build 2600) Service Pack 2.0

Locale:
LC_COLLATE=English_United Kingdom.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_United
Kingdom.1252;LC_MONETARY=English_United
Kingdom.1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_United Kingdom.1252

Search Path:
 .GlobalEnv, package:ctv, package:methods, package:stats,
package:graphics, package:grDevices, package:utils, package:datasets,
Autoloads, package:base

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