R help - Jul 2004 - adding option in the Windows installer for --internet2

[Not sure if such wishlist item should go to R-help or R-devel...]

It would be nice if an option can be added to the R for Windows installer
that will add the --internet2 option to the command line in the shortcut
that gets created.  Also, is it possible to make that an option that can be
set at the R prompt, or perhaps even better, as the default no matter
how/where R is started?  For those of us behind corporate firewalls, life
w/o --internet2 is not terribly pleasant, and na??ve users are too na??ve to
remember that...

Best,
Andy

Andy Liaw, PhD
Biometrics Research      PO Box 2000, RY33-300     
Merck Research Labs           Rahway, NJ 07065
mailto:andy_liaw at merck.com        732-594-0820

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 16:18:43 -0400, "Liaw, Andy" <andy_liaw at
merck.com>
wrote :
>[Not sure if such wishlist item should go to R-help or R-devel...]
>
>It would be nice if an option can be added to the R for Windows installer
>that will add the --internet2 option to the command line in the shortcut
>that gets created.  Also, is it possible to make that an option that can be
>set at the R prompt, or perhaps even better, as the default no matter
>how/where R is started?  For those of us behind corporate firewalls, life
>w/o --internet2 is not terribly pleasant, and na??ve users are too na??ve to
>remember that...
It would be easy to put there, but I can't for the life of me figure
out how I would document it.  If a user is too naive to know to use it
when running R, how would they know which choice to make when
installing it?

Alternatively, if you know a test that could determine whether
--internet2 is desirable, perhaps the installer could use that.

As to the idea of switching at the R prompt or as a global
configuration option:  those are probably possible, possibly tricky,
patches to do them will be considered.

Duncan Murdoch

> From: Duncan Murdoch 
> 
> On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 16:18:43 -0400, "Liaw, Andy" <andy_liaw at
merck.com>
> wrote :
> 
> >[Not sure if such wishlist item should go to R-help or R-devel...]
> >
> >It would be nice if an option can be added to the R for 
> Windows installer
> >that will add the --internet2 option to the command line in 
> the shortcut
> >that gets created.  Also, is it possible to make that an 
> option that can be
> >set at the R prompt, or perhaps even better, as the default no matter
> >how/where R is started?  For those of us behind corporate 
> firewalls, life
> >w/o --internet2 is not terribly pleasant, and na??ve users 
> are too na??ve to
> >remember that...
> 
> It would be easy to put there, but I can't for the life of me figure
> out how I would document it.  If a user is too naive to know to use it
> when running R, how would they know which choice to make when
> installing it?
> 
> Alternatively, if you know a test that could determine whether
> --internet2 is desirable, perhaps the installer could use that.
The XEmacs and cygwin netinstaller has three install options: "Use IE5
settings", "Direct connection" (or something like that) and
"Install from
local disk".  Option #2 never work for me, but #1 does.  I suspect the R
installer can do something similar:  offer the two options (with and
without), and somehow test if the connection (to CRAN) works.  If not,
prompt the user to try the other option.  My take is that this option should
be (semi?) permanent:  If it's needed, it's needed all the time for that
installation.  Wouldn't it make sense to have the setting written to some
file in, say, $R_HOME/etc, that tells R to use that option, instead of using
the command line argument?

> As to the idea of switching at the R prompt or as a global
> configuration option:  those are probably possible, possibly tricky,
> patches to do them will be considered.
Would what I suggested above be easier than this?  Not that I have any clue
as to how to do this, unfortunately...

Cheers,
Andy
 
> Duncan Murdoch
> 
>

(Moved from r-help)

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 19:41:54 -0400, "Liaw, Andy"
<andy_liaw@merck.com>
wrote:
>The XEmacs and cygwin netinstaller has three install options: "Use IE5
>settings", "Direct connection" (or something like that) and
"Install from
>local disk".  Option #2 never work for me, but #1 does.  
Yes, I've seen that, but I never knew what it meant, and so it didn't
give me confidence in the installation.  (Did I make the right choice?
How would I know if I didn't?)
>I suspect the R
>installer can do something similar:  offer the two options (with and
>without), and somehow test if the connection (to CRAN) works.  If not,
>prompt the user to try the other option.
We don't have a netinstaller, so a connection to CRAN is not
necessary.  I would guess that a large number of people installing R
don't have a net connection at the time, because a lot of students get
it on a CD.
> My take is that this option should
>be (semi?) permanent:  If it's needed, it's needed all the time for
that
>installation.  
It seems to me that if internet2 works at all, it should always be
used, whether necessary or not.  (It might be that your machine is
behind a firewall sometimes, but not always:  but if you've got the
required library installed, you probably won't lose it.)

Maybe internet2 should be the default now.  I'd guess nowadays most
Windows systems would support it.

Does anyone know if there are any disadvantages to using the WinINet
functions via internet2.dll instead of the WinSock functions via
internet.dll?

Duncan Murdoch

>>>>> "AndyL" == Liaw, Andy <andy_liaw at
merck.com>
>>>>>     on Thu, 15 Jul 2004 16:18:43 -0400 writes:
    AndyL> [Not sure if such wishlist item should go to R-help or R-devel...]

to R-devel  {next time ..}

Note that the posting guide (at the very end of this message)
has been updated recently now has a section on this exact topic
`` Which list: R-help or R-devel? ''

Regards, Martin