[R-SIG-Mac] Version differences in filename completion behavior

[Don MacQueen]

Hello,

I am seeing a difference between R versions in how filename 
completion performs. Specifically, something that worked in 2.3.1, 
which I built from sources, does not work in the CRAN binary 2.5.0. 
(Apparently, I skipped versions 2.4.x and went directly from 2.3.1 to 
2.5.0, so I can't speak to the behavior in 2.4.x.)

This may be due to the CRAN binary using libedit from Apple instead 
of GNU readline?
(from the R for OS X faq: "Nevertheless, GNU readline has some 
additional functionality so it may be worth installing anyway.")

Details:

Suppose I have files of R code in my working directory named:
     foo-bar.r
     ugh.bar.r

I want to source these files using, e.g.,
     source('foo-bar.r')
     source('ugh.bar.r')

In my R 2.3.1 (built from source), command line completion (by 
hitting the tab key) worked for both files.
That is, after typing
    source('foo-b
or
    source('ugh.b
and then hitting TAB, the filename completed.

In R 2.5.0 (binary), filename completion works for
    source('ugh.b
but not for
    source('foo-b
I hit the tab key, and it beeps but does nothing.

Since I have been in the habit of using (and desire to use) hyphens 
in file names, it would be nice to have both.

I tried to find out which version of readline my build of 2.3.1 one 
used, and couldn't find version info in any of the logs. But I do 
have libreadline.5.0.dylib from fink in /sw/lib, whereas Apple seems 
to supply libedit.dylib in /usr/lib, so maybe my build and the CRAN 
binary are using different libraries. More than likely, I would 
guess... And maybe Apple's doesn't support completion with hyphens.

Thanks
-Don


The respective version and session info is:

###### 2.5.0
>  version
                _                          
platform       powerpc-apple-darwin8.9.1  
arch           powerpc                    
os             darwin8.9.1                
system         powerpc, darwin8.9.1       
status                                    
major          2                          
minor          5.0                        
year           2007                       
month          04                         
day            23                         
svn rev        41293                      
language       R                          
version.string R version 2.5.0 (2007-04-23)

>  sessionInfo()
R version 2.5.0 (2007-04-23)
powerpc-apple-darwin8.9.1

locale:
C

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

###### 2.3.1
>  version
                _                                       
platform       powerpc-apple-darwin8.7.0               
arch           powerpc                                 
os             darwin8.7.0                             
system         powerpc, darwin8.7.0                    
status         Patched                                 
major          2                                       
minor          3.1                                     
year           2006                                    
month          08                                      
day            19                                      
svn rev        38935                                   
language       R                                       
version.string Version 2.3.1 Patched (2006-08-19 r38935)

>  sessionInfo()
Version 2.3.1 Patched (2006-08-19 r38935)
powerpc-apple-darwin8.7.0

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


-- 
--------------------------------------
Don MacQueen
Environmental Protection Department
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA, USA