[R] Error with 1.9.0 - Invalid HOMEDRIVE

[Duncan Murdoch]

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 11:41:26 -0400, "Joann Williamson"
<JoannW at usca.edu> wrote:
> "Fatal Error: Invalid HOMEDRIVE". 

I've now put two fixes in place for this.

In r-patched (that will probably become 1.9.1), I've just put in a
workaround so that R will start even when Windows isn't supplying
HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH as it should.  Those users who have this
problem may find that it is inconsistent about which directory it
chooses for R_USER:  if HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH are present, it will
use those, if not, it will use the current directory.

In r-devel (that will become 2.0.0 in the fall), I've changed the
logic slightly, to use the Windows "personal" directory (normally 
"C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents" in XP) if possible.
This should be consistent, and if the documentation is correct, should
allow "roaming" users to keep their settings as they move from machine
to machine.

I'd appreciate it if anyone who has had these problems could try one
or both of the new versions.  They should be available for download
from CRAN tomorrow.  Go to
<http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base> and follow the links near
the top of the page to r-patched or r-devel.

If you don't want to use the test versions, then the workaround with
1.9.0 is to put "R_USER=some valid path" in the command line that
starts R.

Thanks!

Duncan Murdoch