[R] Package Building under Windows with MikTeX 2.6

[Duncan Murdoch]

Mark Hempelmann wrote:
> Dear WizaRds,
>
> 	I wrote a small function in R and would like to create a package. The 
> necessary documentation is done, Rtools etc. are installed and I am 
> still unable to complete the process under Windows. I did extensive 
> research in the archives and read the Murdoch-Sutherland website on the 
> Rtools and MikTeX hints. I realize that I understand only half or less 
> of what is said there concerning the MikTeX-R interaction in creating 
> packages. I am sorry.
>
> 	I also read the very helpful Rossi paper on 'Making R Packages under 
> Windows. A Tutorial' as of 2006/01. I also tried to understand the .pdf 
> on Writing R Extensions Version 2.5.1 (2007-09-04). Because of its 
> condensed form it *might* present a true challenge to the uninitiated. I 
> wish to apologize for not being able to comprehensively follow all of 
> your "prescriptions", as pointed out in the manual: "This section 
> contains a lot of prescriptive comments. They are here as a result of 
> bitter experience. Please do not report problems to R-help unless you 
> have followed all the prescriptions." Therefore, I hesitated long to 
> report my problems, but since I spent long hours without any progress, I 
> simply don't know anymore what to do. Is there anyone willing to help?
>
> 	I installed MikTex, Perl, htmlhelp, Rtools and WinEdt for editing 
> purposes, and changed the path in the system environment as follows 
> (Carriage return for readability):
> System Path:
> C:\Programme\Uni\Rtools\bin;
> C:\Programme\Uni\Perl\bin;
> C:\Programme\Uni\Rtools\MinGW\bin;
> C:\Programme\Uni\hmtlhelp;
> C:\Programme\Uni\R\bin;
> C:\Programme\Uni\MikTeX\miktex\bin;
> %SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem
>
> User Path (?what is this for?)
> C:\Programme\Uni\MikTeX\miktex\bin
>
>   
The user path is prepended to the system path, so you've got miktex 
first.  I'd delete it, because you really want Rtools first.
> R Version: R version 2.5.1 Patched (2007-09-04 r42845)
> Rtools Version: 2.6.0.1216
>   
The tools you have were written to work with R 2.6.0.  I think they'll 
work with 2.5.1, but I'd recommend upgrading R to 2.6.1 (when it is 
released tomorrow).  Building packages is getting easier.
> MikTeX 2.6
>
> Directory Structure MikTeX, R, Rtools, WinEdt etc. (hierarchy with tabs):
> C:\Uni\MikTeX
> C:\Uni\R\
> 	bin
> 	doc
> 	etc
> 	include
> 	library
> 	modules
> 	share\
> 		licenses
> 		locale
> 		make
> 		perl\
> 			R
> 			Text
> 		R
> 		texmf
> 	src
> 	Tcl
>
> C:\Uni\Rtools
> C:\Uni\WinEdt
> C:\Uni\Perl
> C:\Uni\htmlhelp
>
> I generated the minimal package structure for package mbes via 
> skeleton(), consisting of
> c:\RWork\mbes\
> 	man\mbes.Rd
> 	man\mbes.package.Rd
> 	R\mbes.R
> 	DESCRIPTION
>
> and then in a MS DOS command window:
> R CMD check mbes
>
> which called forth the error:
> Error message:
> C:\RWork\mbes>R CMD check mbes
> * checking for working latex ...Error: environment variable TMPDIR not 
> set (or set to unusable value) and no default available.
>   at C:\Programme\Uni\R\share\perl/R/Utils.pm line 73
>   

You should set up TMPDIR (or TEMP, or TMP) to point to a writable directory.

Duncan Murdoch
> 	I looked at the path and Utils.pm shows:
> ...
> ### * R_tempfile
> sub R_tempfile {
>      my $pat = "Rutils";
>      $pat = $_[0] if $_[0];
>      R::Vars::error("TMPDIR");
>      my $retval = file_path($R::Vars::TMPDIR,
>                 $pat . $$ . sprintf("%05d", rand(10**5)));
>
>      my $n=0;
>      while(-e $retval) { # was -f, but want to be able to create such a file
>      $retval = file_path($R::Vars::TMPDIR,
>                  $pat . $$ . sprintf("%05d", rand(10**5)));
>      croak "Cannot find unused name for temporary file"
>          if($n++ > 1000);
>      }
>      $retval;
> }
> ### * R_system
> sub R_system
> {
>      my ($cmd, $Renv) = @_;
>      my $tmpf = R_tempfile();
>      if($R::Vars::OSTYPE eq "windows") {
>      open(tmpf, "> $tmpf")
>        or die "Error: cannot write to '$tmpf'\n";
>      print tmpf "$cmd $Renv\n";
>      close tmpf;
>      $res = system("sh $tmpf");
>      unlink($tmpf);
>      return $res;
>      } else {
>      return system("$Renv $cmd");
>      }
> }
> ...
>
> I simply don't know what to do. I am very grateful for any help.
> Thank you so much.
> Yours
> Mark
>
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