R devel - Jan 2013 - Patch for setwd() to show path in error message

Below is a patch for setwd() to show path in error message.  Current
it just gives error messages such as:

Error in setwd(libdir) : cannot change working directory

with the patch it should (read untested) give:

Error in setwd(libdir) : cannot change working directory to
'path/that/fails/'


PATCH:

% diff -u util.c "util,patch.c"

--- util.c      2012-12-16 13:13:05.002249900 -0800
+++ util,patch.c        2013-01-11 11:52:16.843236400 -0800
@@ -696,14 +696,14 @@
     {
        const wchar_t *path = filenameToWchar(STRING_ELT(s, 0), TRUE);
        if(_wchdir(path) < 0)
-           error(_("cannot change working directory"));
+         error(_("cannot change working directory to '%s'"),
path);
     }
 #else
     {
        const char *path
            = R_ExpandFileName(translateChar(STRING_ELT(s, 0)));
     if(chdir(path) < 0)
-       error(_("cannot change working directory"));
+      error(_("cannot change working directory to '%s'"),
path);
     }
 #endif
     return(wd);


TRANSLATIONS:
I have zero experience with GNU gettext/*.po files, but I understand
that the above change requires updates to src/library/base/*.po files,
which now looks like (e.g. de.po):

#: src/main/util.c:699 src/main/util.c:706
msgid "cannot change working directory"
msgstr "kann Arbeitsverzeichnis nicht wechseln"

A generic/automatic update would be to use the format:

#: src/main/util.c:699 src/main/util.c:706
msgid "cannot change working directory: '%s'"
msgstr "kann Arbeitsverzeichnis nicht wechseln: '%s'"

but I don't think that is in line with the current R style.

/Henrik

PS. Background for this patch:
https://r-forge.r-project.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=2395&group_id=34&atid=194

On 11/01/2013 20:22, Henrik Bengtsson wrote:
> Below is a patch for setwd() to show path in error message.  Current
> it just gives error messages such as:
>
> Error in setwd(libdir) : cannot change working directory
>
> with the patch it should (read untested) give:
>
> Error in setwd(libdir) : cannot change working directory to
'path/that/fails/'
And why is this needed?  You know it is 'libdir' and could check what 
that was (or if doing this programatically, check its existence first).

As you fumbled towards, it would require all the translations to be 
redone, so we don't do this sort of thing lightly.  (Redone twice if it 
were done correctly, AFAICS.)  The .pot and .po files are generated 
automatically, but not filled in automatically.  This is all in the 
manuals ....

In any case, the correct procedure was to file an enhancement request on 
R-bugs, with a case and after testing on both platforms you are 
proposing to patch.

>
>
> PATCH:
>
> % diff -u util.c "util,patch.c"
>
> --- util.c      2012-12-16 13:13:05.002249900 -0800
> +++ util,patch.c        2013-01-11 11:52:16.843236400 -0800
> @@ -696,14 +696,14 @@
>       {
>          const wchar_t *path = filenameToWchar(STRING_ELT(s, 0), TRUE);
>          if(_wchdir(path) < 0)
> -           error(_("cannot change working directory"));
> +         error(_("cannot change working directory to
'%s'"), path);
That is a wchar_t*, so the format would need to be %ls.
>       }
>   #else
>       {
>          const char *path
>              = R_ExpandFileName(translateChar(STRING_ELT(s, 0)));
>       if(chdir(path) < 0)
> -       error(_("cannot change working directory"));
> +      error(_("cannot change working directory to
'%s'"), path);
>       }
>   #endif
>       return(wd);
>
>
> TRANSLATIONS:
> I have zero experience with GNU gettext/*.po files, but I understand
> that the above change requires updates to src/library/base/*.po files,
> which now looks like (e.g. de.po):
>
> #: src/main/util.c:699 src/main/util.c:706
> msgid "cannot change working directory"
> msgstr "kann Arbeitsverzeichnis nicht wechseln"
>
> A generic/automatic update would be to use the format:
>
> #: src/main/util.c:699 src/main/util.c:706
> msgid "cannot change working directory: '%s'"
> msgstr "kann Arbeitsverzeichnis nicht wechseln: '%s'"
>
> but I don't think that is in line with the current R style.
>
> /Henrik
>
> PS. Background for this patch:
>
https://r-forge.r-project.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=2395&group_id=34&atid=194
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595