[R] Running R from a read-only CD

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 25/05/2009 5:36 PM, Charles Annis, P.E. wrote:
> I'm not sure how not to use chm help, since that's the only way I've ever
> done things.
> 
> But why would things work well from a USB Flash Drive and not for a CD when
> the folders are identical?  (The CD was burned from the image on the Flash
> Drive.)

That's a question for Microsoft support.  It's their help system...

To use HTML help instead, install R with that option, or change the 
options in your R_HOME/etc/Rprofile.site file to something like this:

# to prefer Compiled HTML help
# options(chmhelp=TRUE)

# to prefer HTML help
   options(htmlhelp=TRUE)

Duncan Murdoch

> 
> 
> Charles Annis, P.E.
> 
> Charles.Annis at StatisticalEngineering.com
> phone: 561-352-9699
> eFax:  614-455-3265
> http://www.StatisticalEngineering.com
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Duncan Murdoch [mailto:murdoch at stats.uwo.ca] 
> Sent: Monday, May 25, 2009 5:23 PM
> To: Charles.Annis at StatisticalEngineering.com
> Cc: r-help at r-project.org
> Subject: Re: [R] Running R from a read-only CD
> 
> On 25/05/2009 5:18 PM, Charles Annis, P.E. wrote:
>> After reading your suggested page, it does appear that the problem is a
>> security feature that I will have to live with since the CDs will be
> running
>> on borrowed computers.
>>
>> BUT, if the same R-folder is loaded from a USB Flash Drive, rather than a
>> CD, the help files work just fine.  So perhaps there is another way.
>>
>> Any other ideas?
> 
> Don't use CHM help.
> 
> Duncan Murdoch
> 
> 
>> Charles Annis, P.E.
>>
>> Charles.Annis at StatisticalEngineering.com
>> phone: 561-352-9699
>> eFax:  614-455-3265
>> http://www.StatisticalEngineering.com
>>  
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Duncan Murdoch [mailto:murdoch at stats.uwo.ca] 
>> Sent: Monday, May 25, 2009 4:57 PM
>> To: Charles.Annis at StatisticalEngineering.com
>> Cc: r-help at r-project.org
>> Subject: Re: [R] Running R from a read-only CD
>>
>> On 25/05/2009 4:40 PM, Charles Annis, P.E. wrote:
>>> Dear R-helpers:
>>>
>>> I created a folder containing R on a read-only CD and use it by having
> the
>>> R-icon, located on the Windows desktop, point to the CD 
>>> (R-2.8.1\bin\Rgui.exe) for the "Target," and to a Windows Desktop folder
>> for
>>> "Start in."
>>>
>>> This works nicely EXCEPT that the R help() function cannot display
>> anything,
>>> and presents a screen message saying "This program cannot display
>> webpage."
>>> This is especially frustrating because on the left of what would be the
>> help
>>> window is the exhaustive list of all the functions for which R can
> provide
>>> help (but can't display anything).
>>>
>>> Can anyone provide guidance?
>>>
>>> Here is the obligatory session information:
>>> ....................
>>>> sessionInfo()
>>> R version 2.8.1 (2008-12-22) 
>>> i386-pc-mingw32 
>>>
>>> locale:
>>> LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_United
>>> States.1252;LC_MONETARY=English_United
>>> States.1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_United States.1252
>>>
>>> attached base packages:
>>> [1] splines   tcltk     stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets
>>> methods   base     
>>>
>>> other attached packages:
>>> [1] mh1823_2.5.4.1     survival_2.35-3    RColorBrewer_1.0-2 RODBC_1.2-5
>>>
>>> ....................
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>
>> This sounds like a Windows security feature, because .CHM is a risky 
>> format.  There's a page here
>>
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896054
>>
>> that tells you how to turn it off.  Alternatively, you can choose one of 
>> the other help formats in R besides CHM help.
>>
>> Duncan Murdoch