R devel - May 2012 - How to set up an object to share data across diverse functions

In the past 6 months I've been struggling with an issue that has been raised
periodically
on the lists. This is the need to share information across a group of functions,
possibly
from different packages. So far I've found solutions that are either quite
clumsy or else
don't work as have (likely incorrectly) read the manuals.

I'll be writing up my experiences as a way to help others, but am wondering
if there is an
accepted way to establish an object that can be read and written by a number of
functions.
I'm currently using list2env to create a list under the "umbrella"
function, and if
necessary pass this to other functions by name through the dot arguments, though
preferably I'd rather use a pre-arranged and fixed name (this does not seem
to work unless
the object is in the global environment, and then I've occasionally had
locked bindings
errors, which I'll freely admit I don't understand at all). I also have
to be very careful
with dot arguments, especially if they are matrices.

I've a couple of examples, but they are pretty long, so I'll save for
off-list transmission.

JN