R help - Dec 2003 - Get message "cannot do complex assignments in base namespace" error

I am constantly running into the problem where I get
error messages like "cannot do complex assignments in
base namespace".

It might have something to do with the fact that R has
not started up completely, since I am trying to run
some R script using Rterm < Rscript.R.

When I perform the same script in a Interactive R
session, the R script has no problem with the
assignments that it deems complex (like assgining a
new value to a slot in a class object).

Also, when I encapsulate the offending scripts inside
a local({ ... }) block, I also do not get the error,
so my theory is that my script is being run in the
wrong namespace, or R has not completely started up
yet or something.

Does anyone have an idea how I can fix this, without
having to run within the local block?

Thanks,

Thon de Boer

Could you 

1) Try with --vanilla.
2) Show us a small example.

In general user code should not be assigning in base (are you
using <<- by any chance?), but there is no difference when redirecting
input in Rterm as to where code is run.  (Your command-line flags may
well affect it, though.)

On Sat, 20 Dec 2003, Thon de Boer wrote:
> I am constantly running into the problem where I get
> error messages like "cannot do complex assignments in
> base namespace".
`Like' or precisely, and all the same or not?
> It might have something to do with the fact that R has
> not started up completely, since I am trying to run
> some R script using Rterm < Rscript.R.
That should not work: you should need to set a command-line flag
to determine if you want the session saved or not.

Given that a proper version of this is used for all the testing we do, 
we are pretty confident that it does work correctly in a factory-fresh 
environment.
> When I perform the same script in a Interactive R
> session, the R script has no problem with the
> assignments that it deems complex (like assgining a
> new value to a slot in a class object).
> 
> Also, when I encapsulate the offending scripts inside
> a local({ ... }) block, I also do not get the error,
> so my theory is that my script is being run in the
> wrong namespace, or R has not completely started up
> yet or something.
> 
> Does anyone have an idea how I can fix this, without
> having to run within the local block?
Sorry, we need to know what `this' is, first.

-- 
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