R help - Dec 2004 - HTML help index generation problem with R under Windows

Hello,
I am wondering if there has been a solution to the following issue with R 
under Windows (see also thread to PR#6662 in this mailing list: 
http://tolstoy.newcastle.edu.au/R/devel/04a/0550.html )
I am using R for teaching students Statistics, so they are working with a 
university-wide installation of R. I have compiled an R-library which 
contains all the instructions and customised functions for the course and the 
students have been using it successfully under UNIX for the last 5 years. I 
keep the library in my own space which is pointed to in R_LIBS variable 
defined for the students. I myself not a sysadmin for the university network, 
so I cannot install to the system-wide library directory, but this was not a 
matter. This year, I have to (sniff-sniff) switch to Windows platform and the 
following problem arose.
The library loads fine and the text-style help files show OK, but help.start() 
reports the following error:
Error in file(f.tg, open = "w") : unable to open connection 
 In addition: Warning messages: 
 1: cannot update HTML package index in: make.packages.html(lib.loc) 
 2: cannot open file `C:\Progra~1\R\rw1071/doc/html/search/index.txt' 
The index-file is opening but does not contain links to my library.
 As far as I understand, the problem lies in the lack of write permissions for 
the system directory where R is installed. While UNIX version creates the 
html-help files in per-session way in the user's home directory, the windows
version atempts to modify the system-wide file. 
Having possibility to display html-help would be a great benefit, as the 
students can follow the links present there which is impossible from within 
"inline" help. So my question:

Is there any work-around that problem? Would making creation of html help 
files in the users' space under Windows as under UNIX/linux resolve the 
issue? Or maybe, it's already been fixed in the recent version of R?

Thanks in advance for your help! Please, make a copy of your response to my 
email below.
-- 
================================================================                
Dr. Sergei ZUYEV
Statistics and Modelling Science dept., University of Strathclyde
    Livingston Tower, 26 Richmond str., Glasgow, G1 1XH, U.K.
     Tel.: +44 (0)141 548 3663    Fax:  +44 (0)141 552 2079
E-mail: sergei at stams.strath.ac.uk   http://www.stams.strath.ac.uk

Sergei Zuyev wrote:
> Hello,
> I am wondering if there has been a solution to the following issue with R 
> under Windows (see also thread to PR#6662 in this mailing list: 
> http://tolstoy.newcastle.edu.au/R/devel/04a/0550.html )
> I am using R for teaching students Statistics, so they are working with a 
> university-wide installation of R. I have compiled an R-library which 
> contains all the instructions and customised functions for the course and
the
> students have been using it successfully under UNIX for the last 5 years. I
> keep the library in my own space which is pointed to in R_LIBS variable 
> defined for the students. I myself not a sysadmin for the university
network,
> so I cannot install to the system-wide library directory, but this was not
a
> matter. This year, I have to (sniff-sniff) switch to Windows platform and
the
> following problem arose.
> The library loads fine and the text-style help files show OK, but
help.start()
> reports the following error:
> Error in file(f.tg, open = "w") : unable to open connection 
>  In addition: Warning messages: 
>  1: cannot update HTML package index in: make.packages.html(lib.loc) 
>  2: cannot open file `C:\Progra~1\R\rw1071/doc/html/search/index.txt' 
> The index-file is opening but does not contain links to my library.
>  As far as I understand, the problem lies in the lack of write permissions
for
> the system directory where R is installed. While UNIX version creates the 
> html-help files in per-session way in the user's home directory, the
windows
> version atempts to modify the system-wide file. 
> Having possibility to display html-help would be a great benefit, as the 
> students can follow the links present there which is impossible from within
> "inline" help. So my question:
> 
> Is there any work-around that problem? Would making creation of html help 
> files in the users' space under Windows as under UNIX/linux resolve the
> issue? Or maybe, it's already been fixed in the recent version of R?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your help! Please, make a copy of your response to my
> email below.

Two points:

a) Please upgrade, R-1.7.1 is really ancient.
b) help.start(update=FALSE) should work.

Uwe Ligges

On ?????????????????????? 13 ?"??????????? 2004 14:29, you
wrote:
> >
> > Thanks, Uwe, for your response!
> > a) I'll try to convince our IT people to upgrade, but they are
reluctant
> > to do that often. I must confess, I undestand them - so many times I
had
> > to re-compile and re-install packages after R-upgrades... This indeed
> > might create a havoc for other users in the middle of the teaching
term.
>
> So time to convince the IT people that you get write access to the R
> directory. Just tell them you are volunteering to maintain the
> department's R installation.
OK, this might work for myself, but what about students? As I understand every 
USER of my library will have the same problem, so everyone should have a 
write access to R installation. If this is so, no sysadmin will ever subscibe 
to that...
> > b) This indeed opens an html help but does not fix the problem - my
> > package is not showing up in the help. This could be expected since
the
> > index file is unchanged from its canonical state.
> >
> > Any more ideas, please?
>
> Well, if you need to update the index, you have to install R into a
> directory you have got write access to, either network or local drive....
But under UNIX/Linux the index is owned by the user, so no such problem 
arises. Why not in Windows?

Cheers,
Sergei

-- 
================================================================                
Dr. Sergei ZUYEV
Statistics and Modelling Science dept., University of Strathclyde
    Livingston Tower, 26 Richmond str., Glasgow, G1 1XH, U.K.
     Tel.: +44 (0)141 548 3663    Fax:  +44 (0)141 552 2079
E-mail: sergei at stams.strath.ac.uk   http://www.stams.strath.ac.uk