R help - Dec 2004 - main() in libR?

libR seems to include a main() function.  Should it?

I'm hoping this simpler question will get more of a response than my
previous post about R a la carte :)

The evidence that libR includes main() is two-fold.  First, when I use
nm, I see the _main defined.  Second, when I run a program linked to
libR, the main R shell takes over, even though I have my own main (in
another library).

Looking at the sources, it seems the only possible contributor of
main() is src/main/Rmain.c.  I wouldn't expect this in the library,
and the documentation of the library (in "R Extensions") says you must
supply your own main.

I have tried to follow through the Makefile's, but the spot the
library is built has not jumped out at me.

I've encountered this with number of generations of R on a number of
platforms (Debian Linux and OS X).

Thanks.

On Wed, 2004-12-15 at 12:05, Ross Boylan wrote:
> libR seems to include a main() function.  Should it?
I think I've tracked this down, and it seems to be specific to R 1.9. 
The 2.0 libR does not include main.

I believe main is present in 1.9 because the link line for libR includes
a reference to "../unix/*.lo".  One of those file is the object for
system.c, which includes main.

On reviewing "Writing R Extensions" for 1.9.1, I note there is no
reference in it to an independent programming calling libR.

I saw this with 1.9.1 on Debian and Mac OS X.