R devel - Aug 2006 - [Bioc-devel] Sweave windows style path (was Re: texmf error on 7 packages on devel winXP build nodes)

>>>>> On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 07:45:00 -0700,
>>>>> Martin Morgan (MM) wrote:
  > [A build system misconfiguration at Bioconductor lead to a discussion
  > about whether \usepackage{Sweave} should be included in .Rnw
  > documents. Leaving this line out causes a problem on Windows, as
  > indicated below.]

  > I think the problem is '~', which should, according to Donald
  > Arseneau's comment in this thread

  >
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.text.tex/browse_thread/thread/640e89078d0697c4/5b6f9fc6b0da21bf?lnk=gst&q=windows+file+path&rnum=4#5b6f9fc6b0da21bf

  > be \string~. If this is the correct change, perhaps an upstream fix
  > could be introduced in src/library/util/R/Sweave.R.

Sorry to join in late, I am currently at a conference with limited
access to the Internet. I am not su sure how easy it is to make the
conversion, i.e. if it is save to unconditionally change all tildes in
the path as suggested above. Does anybody have any experience wether
that is save on all platforms and TeX installations?

Personally I think it would make a lot of sense if the Bioconductor
check machines could include a version of RHOME/share/texmf in their
TeX input path ... that would also allow to use Rd.sty etc.

Otherwise most of what has been said in this thread is true: The full
path is inserted into the document by Sweave such that you donnot have
to copy something from RHOME to your tex installation every time you
install a new version of R.

On Unix it is easy: Put /usr/local/lib/R/share/texmf (or wherever you
typically install your default R) into your tex path and you are
done. On windows the normal R installation path contains the version
number, so this will fail. Hence I did the path thing in R as a
convenience for authors (and to make sure that R version and
Sweave.sty are consistent, but the .sty is pretty stable anyway).

Maybe the installer could/should create

	c:\programme\R\R-latest

as a link to the newest installed version?

Just a thought.

Best,
Fritz

> Maybe the installer could/should create
>
>       c:\programme\R\R-latest
>
> as a link to the newest installed version?
Not on an OS without links ....

I think having the correct TeX path is the user's responsibility, and 
suggest Sweave stops trying to be helpful.  There is no guarantee that the 
path you find will be a valid TeX string on any OS (there are plenty of 
possible exceptions on a Unix-alike, so it is not a Windows-specific 
problem).

-- 
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

Have a look at Rfind.bat in

   http://cran.r-project.org/contrib/extra/batchfiles/

which uses the registry to find various software used by R.

On 8/28/06, Friedrich Leisch <Friedrich.Leisch at stat.uni-muenchen.de>
wrote:
> >>>>> On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 07:45:00 -0700,
> >>>>> Martin Morgan (MM) wrote:
>
>  > [A build system misconfiguration at Bioconductor lead to a discussion
>  > about whether \usepackage{Sweave} should be included in .Rnw
>  > documents. Leaving this line out causes a problem on Windows, as
>  > indicated below.]
>
>  > I think the problem is '~', which should, according to Donald
>  > Arseneau's comment in this thread
>
>  >
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.text.tex/browse_thread/thread/640e89078d0697c4/5b6f9fc6b0da21bf?lnk=gst&q=windows+file+path&rnum=4#5b6f9fc6b0da21bf
>
>  > be \string~. If this is the correct change, perhaps an upstream fix
>  > could be introduced in src/library/util/R/Sweave.R.
>
> Sorry to join in late, I am currently at a conference with limited
> access to the Internet. I am not su sure how easy it is to make the
> conversion, i.e. if it is save to unconditionally change all tildes in
> the path as suggested above. Does anybody have any experience wether
> that is save on all platforms and TeX installations?
>
> Personally I think it would make a lot of sense if the Bioconductor
> check machines could include a version of RHOME/share/texmf in their
> TeX input path ... that would also allow to use Rd.sty etc.
>
> Otherwise most of what has been said in this thread is true: The full
> path is inserted into the document by Sweave such that you donnot have
> to copy something from RHOME to your tex installation every time you
> install a new version of R.
>
> On Unix it is easy: Put /usr/local/lib/R/share/texmf (or wherever you
> typically install your default R) into your tex path and you are
> done. On windows the normal R installation path contains the version
> number, so this will fail. Hence I did the path thing in R as a
> convenience for authors (and to make sure that R version and
> Sweave.sty are consistent, but the .sty is pretty stable anyway).
>
> Maybe the installer could/should create
>
>        c:\programme\R\R-latest
>
> as a link to the newest installed version?
>
> Just a thought.
>
> Best,
> Fritz
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>