[R] seek(), Windows and Cygwin (was "a UNIX vs. Windows package question, please")

[Jeff Newmiller]

I don't know why the R developers made that comment, and R-devel is probably a better place to follow up, but the usual problem is that Windows treats text files differently than binary files, so seeking n text files is a headache. Binary files ought to be okay, but that is a theoretical opinion, not from experience.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Newmiller                        The     .....       .....  Go Live...
DCN:<jdnewmil at dcn.davis.ca.us>        Basics: ##.#.       ##.#.  Live Go...
                                      Live:   OO#.. Dead: OO#..  Playing
Research Engineer (Solar/Batteries            O.O#.       #.O#.  with
/Software/Embedded Controllers)               .OO#.       .OO#.  rocks...1k
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.

On January 13, 2015 10:51:18 AM PST, Mike Miller <mbmiller at umn.edu> wrote:
>On Fri, 9 Jan 2015, Duncan Murdoch wrote:
>
>> On 09/01/2015 5:32 PM, Erin Hodgess wrote:
>>> Hello again.
>>>
>>> Here is another question that I am puzzled about:  I had the 
>>> (incorrect) impression that if I had Rtools on a Windows machine
>that I 
>>> could use any tar.gz package.  However, that is not true.
>>>
>>> In particular, I was looking at the rPython package.  I do indeed
>have 
>>> Python on this machine. But when I did R CMD INSTALL rPython, I got
>an 
>>> error message that said, "this is a Unix package".  Interesting.
>>>
>>> Should I just stay with my Ubuntu laptop and behave?
>>
>> No, but you should not use packages that misbehave.  The ideal R
>package 
>> will run on all platforms where R runs.  Some require effort from the
>
>> user to provide prerequisites, but no good R package runs only on one
>
>> platform.
>
>
>That reminds me to ask if anyone here can provide more details about
>the 
>limitations of seek().  I'm working on some functions that use seek()
>and 
>I may have to tell Windows users not to use these functions.
>
>>From the manual page for seek():
>
>http://stat.ethz.ch/R-manual/R-devel/library/base/html/seek.html
>
>"Use of seek on Windows is discouraged. We have found so many errors in
>
>the Windows implementation of file positioning that users are advised
>to 
>use it only at their own risk, and asked not to waste the R developers'
>
>time with bug reports on Windows' deficiencies."
>
>My question is about whether this limitation is caused by the Windows 
>filesystem, typically NTFS, or if the problem is in the Windows OS.  If
>
>the problem were in the filesystem, maybe the docs would have said so 
>because NTFS can be used on other platforms.
>
>Secondly, can this problem be addressed at all by using Cygwin?  I know
>
>that Cygwin is running in Windows, so it's still Windows, but R might
>be 
>compiled differently, so I just thought I'd ask!  ;-)
>
>And it doesn't matter which Windows version is used?
>
>Finally, if the problem is entirely in Windows, and R cannot possibly 
>overcome it, I suppose that means that it is impossible to write a
>program 
>to run under Windows that can seek (is it fseek in C?) reliably to a 
>position in a file.  If that is the case, it's going to be hard to
>develop 
>good systems for managing bioinformatic data on Windows.
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Mike