[R-SIG-Mac] R.app ?bug or me

[John Maindonald]

I notice that 4.3.3 says"

"Finally it is possible to use a specific directory for a single
R session by dragging a folder onto the R.app icon. If R.app
is not runnig, this will cause R.app to be started in the
directory corresponding to the folder dragged. The same
can be achieved on the command line - for example
open -a R . causes R.app to be started using the current
directory as the startup working directory."

The final statement seems incorrect, at all events without
some further pre-conditions:

At the terminal:

  ch2$ pwd
  /Users/johnm/r/ch2
  ch2$ ls -lt .RData
  -rw-r--r--  1 johnm  johnm  2980  9 Dec 11:31 .RData
  ch2$ open -a R

At the R console that is started:

  > getwd()
  [1] "/Users/johnm/r"
  > sessionInfo()
  R version 2.6.1 (2007-11-26)
  i386-apple-darwin8.10.1

  locale:
  en_AU.UTF-8/en_AU.UTF-8/en_AU.UTF-8/C/en_AU.UTF-8/en_AU.UTF-8

  attached base packages:
  [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base

Incidentally is making copies of R.app an appropriate way to
allow multiple simultaneous sessions of the R Gui? Or is there
some more direct way to achieve this?

John Maindonald.

John Maindonald             email: john.maindonald at anu.edu.au
phone : +61 2 (6125)3473    fax  : +61 2(6125)5549
Centre for Mathematics & Its Applications, Room 1194,
John Dedman Mathematical Sciences Building (Building 27)
Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200.


On 9 Dec 2007, at 10:57 AM, Simon Urbanek wrote:

>
> On Dec 8, 2007, at 6:37 PM, Loren Engrav wrote:
>
>> Using Mac 10.4.11
>> And sessionInfo() say
>>
>>> sessionInfo()
>> R version 2.6.1 (2007-11-26)
>> powerpc-apple-darwin8.10.1
>>
>> locale:
>> en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/C/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8
>>
>> attached base packages:
>> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
>>
>>
>> Directory is ABC and history is XYZ
>> So I change directory to FGH and history to QRS
>> Then I quit R and say save workspace
>>
>> Then I start R
>> And am back to workspace ABC and history XYZ
>
> Well, if ABC and XYZ is in home and you didn't change the default
> settings and started R.app directly then that is exactly as expected.
>
>
>> Would seem I should be at FGH and QRS
>>
>
> Why? That would be quite bad as FGH and QRS have nothing to do with
> your home. The whole point of changing a directory is usually exactly
> the fact that you don't want to overwrite the workspace in your home.
>
>
>> What am I missing? Is it staring me in the face and I cannot see it?
>>
>
> I'd say reading 4.3.3 in the R for Mac FAQ may possibly explain this a
> bit ...
>
> Cheers,
> Simon
>
> PS: Please use R-SIG-Mac for Mac-specific questions.
>
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