[R] Rgui.exe fix for "console not found" buffer overflow problem

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 10/29/2006 1:12 AM, Jesse Albert Canchola wrote:
> I'm using R on Windows XP Professional SP2. 
> 
> I figured out the fix for my buffer overflow problem that did not allow me 
> to use Rgui.exe for about two weeks.  I would keep getting "console not 
> found" and even when I uninstalled and re-installed got the same problem. 
> 
> Here's how the problem started.  In Rgui.exe, I attempted to get more 
> visible output in the buffer (I wanted to be able to scroll up the to the 
> top and see the variable names, etc.), so I put the max of all 9's in the 
> 
> Rgui.exe
> 
> pull-down menus
> 
> Edit > Gui Preferences... > buffer bytes 9999999999999
> 
> and 
> 
>> lines 9999999999999999999
>  
> not realizing this would effectively break the Rgui.exe and no matter what 
> you did to clean R out of your machine and re-install it, you would get 
> the same thing (with both v2.3.1 and v2.4.0).  After a couple of weeks of 
> using Rterm.exe and meeting deadlines, I finally had time to wade through 
> the vague references online regarding where the problem might be.

Thanks for the report.  I'll take a look and see if there's a more 
friendly way to handle this.

Generally starting with the --vanilla option is a good idea to help with 
diagnosing startup problems.  If they go away, you've got a problem in 
one of your startup files, and ?Startup tells you how to trace through 
the startup process.

Duncan Murdoch

> 
> Here's the fix.
> 
> Basically, you have to find the Rconsole file (no extension) outside of 
> the R installation directories (the installation directories will have at 
> least two copies but those will not be chosen first by the R environment. 
> What this means is that even if you delete every trace of the 
> installation, the Rconsole will linger unbenownst to you ready to strike 
> when you re-install.  I found the errant copy in my "My Documents" folder 
> on my desktop.  The way I did it was to put in the following (in its 
> entirety) in the Rterm.exe window (found at the bottom of ?Rconsole help 
> file within Rterm.exe):
> 
> #### BEGIN R CODE ####
>  ruser <- Sys.getenv("R_USER")
>      cat("\n\nLocation for personal configuration files is\n   R_USER = ",
>          ruser, "\n\n", sep="")
>      ## see if there are personal configuration files
>      sapply(c("Rconsole", "Rdevga"), function(x) 
> file.exists(file.path(ruser, x)))
> 
>      ## show the configuration files used
>      showConfig <- function(file)
>      {
>          ruser <- Sys.getenv("R_USER")
>          path <- file.path(ruser, file)
>          if(!file.exists(path)) path <- file.path(R.home(), "etc", file)
>          file.show(path, header=path)
>      }
>      showConfig("Rconsole")
> ##### END CODE ####
> 
> This will bring up the Rconsole file wherever it exists.  Simply open up 
> the file (if not already open) in the free within-Windows Wordpad.exe 
> (Start > Run > Open Wordpad.exe) and change the values back to some 
> smaller number.  For me I changed the problematic "bufbytes" and 
> "buflines" below:
> 
> ### BEGIN Rconsole Code Portion ###
>  # memory limits for the console scrolling buffer, in bytes and lines
> bufbytes = 9999999999999
> buflines = 9999999999999999999
> ###
> 
> to something small like
> 
> ### BEGIN Rconsole Code Portion ###
>  # memory limits for the console scrolling buffer, in bytes and lines
> bufbytes = 25000
> buflines = 50000
> ###
> 
> And voila!  my Rgui.exe worked like a charm.  It was fun using the 
> Rterm.exe while it lasted -- forces you to learn code you usually take for 
> granted in the windows environment.  ;O)
> 
> Regards,
> Jesse A. Canchola
> 
> Biostatistician III
> Bayer Healthcare, Diagnostics Division
> Berkeley, California USA
> 
> 
> 
> 
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