[R] HTML help index generation problem with R under Windows

[Sergei Zuyev]

On Friday 10th of December 2004 15:16, Uwe Ligges wrote:
> Sergei Zuyev wrote:
> > Hello,
> > I am wondering if there has been a solution to the following issue with R
> > under Windows (see also thread to PR#6662 in this mailing list:
> > http://tolstoy.newcastle.edu.au/R/devel/04a/0550.html )
> > I am using R for teaching students Statistics, so they are working with a
> > university-wide installation of R. I have compiled an R-library which
> > contains all the instructions and customised functions for the course and
> > the students have been using it successfully under UNIX for the last 5
> > years. I keep the library in my own space which is pointed to in R_LIBS
> > variable defined for the students. I myself not a sysadmin for the
> > university network, so I cannot install to the system-wide library
> > directory, but this was not a matter. This year, I have to (sniff-sniff)
> > switch to Windows platform and the following problem arose.
> > The library loads fine and the text-style help files show OK, but
> > help.start() reports the following error:
> > Error in file(f.tg, open = "w") : unable to open connection
> >  In addition: Warning messages:
> >  1: cannot update HTML package index in: make.packages.html(lib.loc)
> >  2: cannot open file `C:\Progra~1\R\rw1071/doc/html/search/index.txt'
> > The index-file is opening but does not contain links to my library.
> >  As far as I understand, the problem lies in the lack of write
> > permissions for the system directory where R is installed. While UNIX
> > version creates the html-help files in per-session way in the user's home
> > directory, the windows version atempts to modify the system-wide file.
> > Having possibility to display html-help would be a great benefit, as the
> > students can follow the links present there which is impossible from
> > within "inline" help. So my question:
> >
> > Is there any work-around that problem? Would making creation of html help
> > files in the users' space under Windows as under UNIX/linux resolve the
> > issue? Or maybe, it's already been fixed in the recent version of R?
> >
> > Thanks in advance for your help! Please, make a copy of your response to
> > my email below.
>
> Two points:
>
> a) Please upgrade, R-1.7.1 is really ancient.
> b) help.start(update=FALSE) should work.
>
> Uwe Ligges

Thanks, Uwe, for your response!
a) I'll try to convince our IT people to upgrade, but they are reluctant to do 
that often. I must confess, I undestand them - so many times I had to 
re-compile and re-install packages after R-upgrades... This indeed might 
create a havoc for other users in the middle of the teaching term.

b) This indeed opens an html help but does not fix the problem - my package is 
not showing up in the help. This could be expected since the index file is 
unchanged from its canonical state.

Any more ideas, please?
-- 
=================================================================
                           Dr. Sergei ZUYEV
Statistics and Modelling Science dept., University of Strathclyde
    Livingston Tower, 26 Richmond str., Glasgow, G1 1XH, U.K.
     Tel.: +44 (0)141 548 3663    Fax:  +44 (0)141 552 2079
E-mail: sergei at stams.strath.ac.uk   http://www.stams.strath.ac.uk