R help - Apr 2002 - followup -- deficiencies in readline capability

R 1.4.1 is not current.  I suggest you try again with the current version
1.5.0, as that has a lot of other benefits.

You get the `no history available to save' message from savehistroy() if
either of
HAVE_LIBREADLINE
HAVE_READLINE_HISTORY_H
is not defined (or you have a non-interactive session or used
--no-readline).  (I wrote that interface it ....)

So the issue is in *your* readline installation as described by *you* to
configure.  The answer is simple: you need to read the installation
manual and ensure that you supply a suitable version of readline
*and its headers*.

On Tue, 30 Apr 2002, Jay F Shachter wrote:
> Why would R lack history capability?
>
> Someone in a private electronic mail message suggested the possibility
> that I was running R in a non-writable directory.  This is not the
> case, as the following logfile shows (where "$ " is my shell
prompt):
>
> $ ls -ld `pwd`
> drwxrwxrwx   15 sys      sys          2560 Apr 30 08:10 /tmp
> $ R --vanilla
>
> R : Copyright 2002, The R Development Core Team
> Version 1.4.1  (2002-01-30)
>
> R is free software and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
> You are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions.
> Type `license()' or `licence()' for distribution details.
>
> R is a collaborative project with many contributors.
> Type `contributors()' for more information.
>
> Type `demo()' for some demos, `help()' for on-line help, or
> `help.start()' for a HTML browser interface to help.
> Type `q()' to quit R.
>
> > debug(history)
> > debug(savehistory)
> > history()
> debugging in: history()
> debug: {
>     file1 <- tempfile("Rrawhist")
>     savehistory(file1)
>     rawhist <- scan(file1, what = "", quiet = TRUE, sep =
"\n")
>     unlink(file1)
>     nlines <- length(rawhist)
>     inds <- max(1, nlines - max.show):nlines
>     if (reverse)
>         inds <- rev(inds)
>     file2 <- tempfile("hist")
>     write(rawhist[inds], file2)
>     file.show(file2, title = "R History", delete.file = TRUE)
> }
>
> Browse[1]>
> debug: file1 <- tempfile("Rrawhist")
>
> Browse[1]>
> debug: savehistory(file1)
>
> Browse[1]>
> debugging in: savehistory(file1)
> debug: invisible(.Internal(savehistory(file)))
>
> Browse[1]>
> Error in savehistory(file) : no history available to save
> > q()
> $
>
>
>
> My R clearly lacks history capability, and I have no idea why.
> What can be the cause of this behavior, and how can it be undone?
>
> 			Jay F. Shachter
> 			6424 N Whipple St
> 			Chicago IL  60645-4111
> 				(1-773)7613784
> 				jay at m5.chi.il.us
>
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
> r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
> Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
> (in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at
stat.math.ethz.ch
>
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._
>
-- 
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 272860 (secr)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
(in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at
stat.math.ethz.ch
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

Why would R lack history capability?

Someone in a private electronic mail message suggested the possibility
that I was running R in a non-writable directory.  This is not the
case, as the following logfile shows (where "$ " is my shell prompt):

$ ls -ld `pwd`
drwxrwxrwx   15 sys      sys          2560 Apr 30 08:10 /tmp
$ R --vanilla

R : Copyright 2002, The R Development Core Team
Version 1.4.1  (2002-01-30)

R is free software and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
You are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions.
Type `license()' or `licence()' for distribution details.

R is a collaborative project with many contributors.
Type `contributors()' for more information.

Type `demo()' for some demos, `help()' for on-line help, or
`help.start()' for a HTML browser interface to help.
Type `q()' to quit R.
> debug(history)
> debug(savehistory)
> history()
debugging in: history()
debug: {
    file1 <- tempfile("Rrawhist")
    savehistory(file1)
    rawhist <- scan(file1, what = "", quiet = TRUE, sep =
"\n")
    unlink(file1)
    nlines <- length(rawhist)
    inds <- max(1, nlines - max.show):nlines
    if (reverse) 
        inds <- rev(inds)
    file2 <- tempfile("hist")
    write(rawhist[inds], file2)
    file.show(file2, title = "R History", delete.file = TRUE)
}

Browse[1]> 
debug: file1 <- tempfile("Rrawhist")

Browse[1]> 
debug: savehistory(file1)

Browse[1]> 
debugging in: savehistory(file1)
debug: invisible(.Internal(savehistory(file)))

Browse[1]> 
Error in savehistory(file) : no history available to
save
> q()
$



My R clearly lacks history capability, and I have no idea why.
What can be the cause of this behavior, and how can it be undone?

			Jay F. Shachter
			6424 N Whipple St
			Chicago IL  60645-4111
				(1-773)7613784
				jay at m5.chi.il.us
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
(in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at
stat.math.ethz.ch
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._