[R-SIG-Mac] checking for pdflatex

[John Fox]

Dear Jordan,

I'm not looking for an R package, I'm looking for the pdflatex program.

Best,
 John

On Sun, 15 Mar 2015 21:17:53 -0400
 Jordan Meyer <jordanmeyer1991 at gmail.com> wrote:
> You may wish to try using the logical.return argument of library(). If it
> returns TRUE, you could use find.package() to locate the package you are
> looking for. For example:
> 
> > library(package = "BEST", logical.return = TRUE)
> Loading required package: rjags
> Loading required package: coda
> Linked to JAGS 3.4.0
> Loaded modules: basemod,bugs
> [1] TRUE
> > find.package(package = "BEST")
> [1] "/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/3.1/Resources/library/BEST"
> 
> On Sun, Mar 15, 2015 at 6:21 PM, John Fox <jfox at mcmaster.ca> wrote:
> 
> > Dear Ian,
> >
> > Thanks for this. Please see below:
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Ian Gow [mailto:iandgow at gmail.com]
> > > Sent: March-15-15 5:07 PM
> > > To: John Fox
> > > Cc: r-sig-mac at r-project.org
> > > Subject: Re: [R-SIG-Mac] checking for pdflatex
> > >
> > > I think it's driven by the PATH variable, which appears to differ for me
> > > between RStudio and R from Terminal on the one hand and R.app on the
> > > other.
> >
> > Yes, I understand that, though I don't understand why there's a difference
> > in the path.
> >
> > >
> > > > Sys.getenv("PATH")
> > > [1] "/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin"
> > > > Sys.which("pdflatex")
> > > pdflatex
> > >        ""
> > >
> > > If I add
> > >
> > > Sys.setenv(PATH=paste(Sys.getenv("PATH"),"/opt/local/bin", sep=":"))
> > >
> > > to ~/.Rprofile then R.app finds pdflatex (from MacPorts in my case).
> > >
> > > > Sys.which("pdflatex")
> > >                   pdflatex
> > > "/opt/local/bin/pdflatex"
> > > > Sys.getenv("PATH")
> > > [1] "/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/local/bin"
> >
> > The problem for me is to determine whether pdflatex is installed *without*
> > knowing in advance where it's installed. I haven't described the purpose of
> > this, and, in the interest of brevity, won't for the time-being, but it may
> > also prove necessary to determine where pdflatex resides.
> >
> > Best,
> >  John
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > On 15 Mar 2015, at 16:46, John Fox wrote:
> > >
> > > > Dear list members,
> > > >
> > > > I need to determine whether pdflatex is installed and have been doing
> > > > that via Sys.which("pdflatex"). This works when R is run in a terminal
> > > > window (or in RStudio):
> > > >
> > > > > Sys.which("pdflatex")
> > > >            pdflatex
> > > > "/usr/texbin/pdflatex"
> > > >
> > > > but not from R.app:
> > > >
> > > > > Sys.which("pdflatex")
> > > > pdflatex
> > > >    ""
> > > >
> > > > The session info is the same in both cases:
> > > >
> > > > -------------- snip ----------------
> > > >
> > > >> sessionInfo()
> > > > R version 3.1.3 (2015-03-09)
> > > > Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin13.4.0 (64-bit) Running under: OS X
> > > > 10.10.2 (Yosemite)
> > > >
> > > > locale:
> > > > [1] en_CA.UTF-8/en_CA.UTF-8/en_CA.UTF-8/C/en_CA.UTF-8/en_CA.UTF-
> > > 8
> > > >
> > > > attached base packages:
> > > > [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
> > > >
> > > > -------------- snip ----------------
> > > >
> > > > Why is the result different? Is there a better way to check for the
> > > > presence of pdflatex?
> > > >
> > > > Any help would be appreciated.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > John
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------
> > > > John Fox, Professor
> > > > McMaster University
> > > > Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
> > > > http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox/
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > R-SIG-Mac mailing list
> > > > R-SIG-Mac at r-project.org
> > > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac
> >
> >
> > ---
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> >
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> >

------------------------------------------------
John Fox, Professor
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox/