[R] running Rcmd INSTALL (creating help files revisited)

[RINNER Heinrich]

It is embarrassing, but I just can't get "Rcmd INSTALL" to work.

I'm using R1.2.0 under Windows NT4.0, and what I do is open a commands
window (cmd.exe) in directory "D:\", and then try the following:

----- 
REM this is how my PATH is set:
D:\>set path =
%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\system32\nls\DEUTSC
H;d:\PROGRA~1\pfe;
d:\PROGRA~1\perl\bin;D:\Programme\PGPNT;D:\Programme\R\rw1020
\bin;D:\Programme\R\rw1020\tools;D:\Programme\R\rw1020\share\perl\R

REM "rgui" is found and launched correctly, so I suppose my path is ok:
D:\>rgui

REM when typing "rcmd", no error message is given, so I suppose this is
found as well:
D:\>rcmd

REM But trying to get help for "rcmd install" gives an error message, saying
(in German) that the command is wrong or could not be found:
D:\>rcmd INSTALL --help
Der Befehl ist entweder falsch geschrieben oder konnte nicht gefunden
werden.
Bitte überprüfen Sie die Schreibweise und die Umgebungsvariable 'PATH'.
-----

Hm. At this point I suspect the problem is with perl file "INSTALL"; to
check this, I rename "INSTALL" to "INSTALL.pl" and try to run this directly
- and get the following error message:

D:\>INSTALL.pl
Can't locate R/Dcf.pm in @INC (@INC contains: d:\programme\perl\lib
d:\programme
\perl\site\lib .) at D:\Programme\R\rw1020\bin\Install.pl line 25.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at D:\Programme\R\rw1020\bin\Install.pl
line 25.

That's the point where I start reading PERL documentation (as I am by no
ways an expert in PERL - naively enough, I thought that simply installing it
would suffice for usage with R...).
I learn that @INC is an array which tells PERL where to look for libraries,
and I think it might help to insert the line "use lib
'D:\Programme\R\rw1020\share\perl';" to the beginning of the INSTALL file. I
do so, save this as "INSTALL2.pl", run this, and get:
-----
D:\>INSTALL2.pl
Error: Environment variable R_HOME not found
----

Well now, I think I'm lost. Before I wade deeper into muddy waters, I'm
asking r-help one more time. I know the answer might well be "Get a book on
WindowsNT!" or "Go to the library and learn something about PERL!", but then
at least I'd know where to start.
Am I the only one who's ever had problems with this? Any
experiences/suggestions what I might be doing wrong?
readme.packages at some point says "All of these need to be installed and in
your path, and the appropriate environment variables set." So is my PATH
incomplete? Or do I have to make modifications to some of the PERL files
(which ones)?

Heinrich Rinner.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
(in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._