[R-SIG-Mac].Rprofile in 1.3.1 (os 10.1)

[David A Richmond]

On Sun, 11 Nov 2001 MacStats@mac.com wrote:

> On 10 Nov 2001 20:12:18 -0500, David A Richmond wrote:
> 
> >1) OS 10.1 doesn't let you name files that begin with a period '.' in the
> >Finder, or save them in programs such as BBedit. The only way to create a
> >file that begins with a period is to use the command line. (i.e. use
> >Terminal, and use the mv command: "mv filename .filename")
> 
> Under Mac OS 1/4/6/7/9, the ".file" form has a special meaning -- it
> means a device driver.  So a Carbonized program like BBEdit would
> assume this is a driver.
> 
> You should report this to BareBones, it's easy enough to fix if they
> know where to look. 

It's not just bbedit, it seems to be pervasive; programs like BBedit and
Appleworks will dim and disable the save button when the filename begins
with a '.', TextEdit will let you click "save" but will then inform you
that you can't use the name. The Finder does a similar thing.

To its credit, BBedit will allow you to open a hidden file, it just
can't save as one. I think they are aware of the problem/situation, and
are just following the rules.

> This will probably be an issue for both versions of R for Mac OS X.
> Not that I can volunteer Jan or Stefano's time, but it would be nice
> if ordinary line input could auto-detect which format the file is in
> and treat it accordingly 

yep, it would have saved me a few frustrating hours. OTOH, I'm just glad
that people like Jan and Stefano have made it possible to run R on my mac
in the first place.

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