[Rd] parse_Rd and/or lazyload problem

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 31/10/2009 10:18 PM, Mark.Bravington at csiro.au wrote:
>> Does this happen in R-patched?  I've seen similar errors in 2.10.0, but
>> not in a current build.
> 
> Yes, still there in R-patched.
> 
> (Still haven't got to your code, this was in
>> mine.  I'm reluctant to spend time on code that is messing with
>> internals, because you might be using things in a way not intended by
>> the author.  Now, if you can show me some code that demonstrates the
>> problem without using internals directly, I'll follow up.)
> 
> I did try, but it's not completely possible, because 'makeLazyLoadDB' is internal and there is no public alternative (a pity-- it's useful). However, the problem(s) can be demonstrated without directly calling 'parse_Rd', and with 'lazyLoad' (public) instead of 'fetchRdDB' (private), as per "pointer 1" below. If you have a look at 'tools:::.install_package_Rd_objects', you'll see that my use of 'makeLazyLoadDB' is quite standard.
> 
> The problem is not easy to reproduce. It took 4-5 hours work to get the 3-line reproducible example that I posted, plus another couple since, so I'm also reluctant to spend more time...

Okay, then we both agree we should drop it.

Duncan Murdoch

> 
> The examples in my previous post still apply-- the first one involves just 3 statements-- but here are some more pointers I've unearthed since:
> 
> 
> 1. Sometimes 'fetchRdDB' or 'lazyLoad' called directly from the prompt doesn't work, but public 'Rd_db' (which directly calls 'fetchRdDB') does. I've experimented with copying the installed 'tools' package into a new library "d:/temp/fakelib", then stuff like this:
> 
> test> e <- new.env()
> test> lazyLoad( 'd:/temp/fakelib/tools/help/tools', e) # original files tools.rdx, tools.rdb
> test> e <- as.list( e) # force evaluation
> test> tools:::makeLazyLoadDB( e, 'd:/temp/fakelib/tools/help/tools') # modify tools.rd*
> test> e1 <- new.env()
> test> lazyLoad( 'd:/temp/fakelib/tools/help/tools', e1)
> test> as.list( e1) # try to force evaluation...
> Error in as.list.environment(e1) : 
>   cannot allocate memory block of size 2.7 Gb
> test> 
> test> Rd_db( 'tools', 'd:/temp/fakelib') # no probs !?
> 
> 
> 2. Sometimes 'fetchRdDB' or 'lazyLoad' will fail in one R session, but will work in a fresh session on exactly the same files. For example, after restarting R, the previous commands involving 'e1' work fine.
> 
> Mark
> 
>> Duncan Murdoch
>>
> 
>>>> I'm encountering problems when making lazy-loadable databases of the output from 'parse_Rd'. The lazy-
>>>> load database is of seemingly limitless size when I try to reload it... Admittedly I am using functions
>>>> that I'm not really supposed to use, which is why this isn't a bug report, but there does seem to be
>>>> something strange going on; my code is very similar to code that lives inside
>>>> 'tools:::.install_package_Rd_objects'. The problems occur with just-released R2.10.0 on Windows.
>>> object.size() has problems when working on Rd objects, because it counts
>>> every environment separately, even though they may all be references to
>>> the same one. I haven't looked at your code, but that could be a problem.
>>>
>>>
>> Mark
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Duncan Murdoch [murdoch at stats.uwo.ca]
>> Sent: 31 October 2009 08:59
>> To: Bravington, Mark (CMIS, Hobart)
>> Cc: r-devel at r-project.org
>> Subject: Re: [Rd] parse_Rd and/or lazyload problem
>>
>> On 30/10/2009 12:50 AM, Mark.Bravington at csiro.au wrote:
>>> I'm encountering problems when making lazy-loadable databases of the output from 'parse_Rd'. The lazy-load database is of seemingly limitless size when I try to reload it... Admittedly I am using functions that I'm not really supposed to use, which is why this isn't a bug report, but there does seem to be something strange going on; my code is very similar to code that lives inside 'tools:::.install_package_Rd_objects'. The problems occur with just-released R2.10.0 on Windows.
>> object.size() has problems when working on Rd objects, because it counts
>> every environment separately, even though they may all be references to
>> the same one. I haven't looked at your code, but that could be a problem.
>>
>> Duncan Murdoch
>>
>>> The examples below use files which can be found at ftp://ftp.csiro.au/MarkBravington, but you'll obviously need to modify the paths. The file "scrunge.Rd" is just "Rdiff.Rd" from the 'tools' package. The file "fakepack.7z" should unzip to create a fake package with a DESCRIPTION file and a "man" directory that contains two Rd files.
>>>
>>> Transcript of first example:
>>> eglist <- list( scrunge=tools:::prepare_Rd(  'd:/temp/scrunge.Rd',
>>>     defines=.Platform$OS.type, stages='install', warningCalls=FALSE))
>>> tools:::makeLazyLoadDB( eglist, 'd:/temp/ll', compress=FALSE)
>>> tools:::fetchRdDB( 'd:/temp/ll')
>>> # Error: cannot allocate vector of size 1.4 Gb
>>>
>>> The second example triggers an error with 'tools:::.install_package_Rd_objects' itself. It doesn't happen the first time, but frequently does after the Rd files have been changed. Transcript:
>>>
>>> # Make sure d:/temp/help/ is empty, then
>>> test> tools:::.install_package_Rd_objects( 'd:/temp/fakepack', 'd:/temp')
>>> test> tools:::fetchRdDB( 'd:/temp/help/temp')
>>> # All good. Next, I *removed* one of the two Rd files in "d:/temp/fakepack/man", ...
>>> # ...deleted "d:/temp/help/temp*", and tried again
>>> test> tools:::.install_package_Rd_objects( 'd:/temp/fakepack', 'd:/temp')
>>> test> tools:::fetchRdDB( 'd:/temp/help/temp')
>>> Warning: Reached total allocation of 1535Mb: see help(memory.size)
>>> Warning: Reached total allocation of 1535Mb: see help(memory.size)
>>> Warning: Reached total allocation of 1535Mb: see help(memory.size)
>>> Warning: Reached total allocation of 1535Mb: see help(memory.size)
>>> Error: cannot allocate vector of size 1.9 Gb
>>> # Or on other occasions I get
>>> Error: internal error -3 in R_decompress1
>>>
>>> Mark Bravington
>>> CSIRO CMIS
>>> Hobart
>>> Australia
>>>
>>> --please do not edit the information below--
>>> Version:
>>>  platform = i386-pc-mingw32
>>>  arch = i386
>>>  os = mingw32
>>>  system = i386, mingw32
>>>  status =
>>>  major = 2
>>>  minor = 10.0
>>>  year = 2009
>>>  month = 10
>>>  day = 26
>>>  svn rev = 50208
>>>  language = R
>>>  version.string = R version 2.10.0 (2009-10-26)
>>> Windows XP (build 2600) Service Pack 2
>>> Locale:
>>> LC_COLLATE=English_Australia.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_Australia.1252;LC_MONETARY=English_Australia.1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_Australia.1252
>>> Search Path:
>>>  .GlobalEnv, ROOT, package:grDevices, package:ad, package:chstuff, package:handy2, package:tweedie, package:statmod, package:handy, package:debug, package:mvbutils, mvb.session.info, package:tools, package:tcltk, package:stats, package:graphics, package:utils, package:methods, Autoloads, package:base
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