R help - Sep 2008 - problem running Sweave as a web service with anti-virus software

Hello R mailing list

We are trying to use R and Sweave, running as a web service on a server
to prepare statistical reports but are having problems with our
anti-virus software apparently prohibiting execution due to what we
think is Sweave trying to run an executable in one of the system's
temporary folders.  

As background, we use the following Rscript command to invoke Sweave
(the text in %'s are system variables)

Rscript -e
Sweave('%script.dir%\\runstats1.Rnw',output='%uniquenum%-%fileend%.tex',
debug=FALSE) %outdir% --slave

This runs OK when run on a local machine, but when when we try to run
the code as a web service, the following error messages occur:

2008-9-23 9:34:23 Would be blocked by Access Protection rule  (rule is
currently not enforced)  CLW-H3P8L1S-BU\ASPNET
c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_wp.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET
Files\r\dfbe3c81\37929eb6\assembly\dl3\2a60fd88\0036ec07_80b5c601\antlr.
runtime.DLL Anti-spyware Maximum Protection:Prevent all programs from
running files from the Temp folder Action blocked : Execute
2008-9-23 9:34:23 Would be blocked by Access Protection rule  (rule is
currently not enforced)  CLW-H3P8L1S-BU\ASPNET
c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_wp.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET
Files\r\dfbe3c81\37929eb6\assembly\dl3\84f8ea82\00eb8e7a_5ffbc701\Castle
.DynamicProxy.DLL Anti-spyware Maximum Protection:Prevent all programs
from running files from the Temp folder Action blocked : Execute

etc (there were a few more)

We have been able to configure the anti-virus software to allow
Rscript.exe to run OK in temporary directories, but there seems to be a
problem with Sweave trying to run an executable in one of the system's
temp directories which the virus checker is then blocking.

Has anyone else had any experience with this or have any tips as to what
might be going on, least of all how to get around this?

Thanks
Paul.

Paul Rustomji
Rivers and Estuaries
CSIRO Land and Water
GPO Box 1666
Canberra ACT 2601

ph +61 2 6246 5810
mobile 0406 375 739

On 29/09/2008 2:01 AM, Paul.Rustomji at csiro.au wrote:
> Hello R mailing list
> 
> We are trying to use R and Sweave, running as a web service on a server
> to prepare statistical reports but are having problems with our
> anti-virus software apparently prohibiting execution due to what we
> think is Sweave trying to run an executable in one of the system's
> temporary folders.  
> 
> As background, we use the following Rscript command to invoke Sweave
> (the text in %'s are system variables)
> 
> Rscript -e
>
Sweave('%script.dir%\\runstats1.Rnw',output='%uniquenum%-%fileend%.tex',
> debug=FALSE) %outdir% --slave
> 
> This runs OK when run on a local machine, but when when we try to run
> the code as a web service, the following error messages occur:
> 
> 2008-9-23 9:34:23 Would be blocked by Access Protection rule  (rule is
> currently not enforced)  CLW-H3P8L1S-BU\ASPNET
> c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_wp.exe
> C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET
> Files\r\dfbe3c81\37929eb6\assembly\dl3\2a60fd88\0036ec07_80b5c601\antlr.
> runtime.DLL Anti-spyware Maximum Protection:Prevent all programs from
> running files from the Temp folder Action blocked : Execute
> 2008-9-23 9:34:23 Would be blocked by Access Protection rule  (rule is
> currently not enforced)  CLW-H3P8L1S-BU\ASPNET
> c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_wp.exe
> C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET
> Files\r\dfbe3c81\37929eb6\assembly\dl3\84f8ea82\00eb8e7a_5ffbc701\Castle
> .DynamicProxy.DLL Anti-spyware Maximum Protection:Prevent all programs
> from running files from the Temp folder Action blocked : Execute
> 
> etc (there were a few more)
> 
> We have been able to configure the anti-virus software to allow
> Rscript.exe to run OK in temporary directories, but there seems to be a
> problem with Sweave trying to run an executable in one of the system's
> temp directories which the virus checker is then blocking.
> 
> Has anyone else had any experience with this or have any tips as to what
> might be going on, least of all how to get around this?
I think you need to contact the anti-virus vendor to get it to write 
more informative reports.  For example, what is the executable in the 
Temp directory?

Sweave by itself runs no executables, you normally run latex or some 
related program on its output; perhaps your script is trying to do that. 
  But diagnosing it without knowing the executable that is being run 
isn't really possible.

Duncan Murdoch