R help - Apr 2011 - Sys.getenv at startup is not working properly

Hello,

when using

Sys.getenv() during startup-phase (.First or .Rprofile)
 to get the env-variables
COLUMNS as well as HOST I get empty strings.

After the startup is done, when asking via Sys.getenv()
by hand, COLUMNS is set (but HOST is not, even "hostname" on the shell
gives me
a correct answer).

At the moment my problem is the missing COLUMNS value during start up,
because I want to set the linewidth for printing via

  options(width=Sys.getenv("COLUMNS"))

automatically at startup.

When using
$ R CMD BATCH myscript.R
the same problem occurs, but then at least I can understand
the case (but interpreting "" as "0" by the options() would
be better,
because the option-setting would then not break the script; it does break the
script, when COLUMNS is "").

(btw: Is there a possibility to decide if the script is running in batch mode or
interactively? This could be a workaround for "" not interpreted as
"0".)

The setting with the options/Sys.getenv() works, when typed in by hand
after startup is completed, as well as when sourcing-in a script that
contains such a options/Sys.getenv-command.


here is, what R.version contains:
=============================================  _                            
platform       x86_64-pc-linux-gnu          
arch           x86_64                       
os             linux-gnu                    
system         x86_64, linux-gnu            
status                                      
major          2                            
minor          10.1                         
year           2009                         
month          12                           
day            14                           
svn rev        50720                        
language       R                            
version.string R version 2.10.1 (2009-12-14)
=============================================
Is this problem fixed in newer releases?
Or if not: how can I inform the R developers, so that they can
pick it up?
(Some R developers might be on this list?!)

Ciao,
   Oliver

Please upgrade to a current release (or R-patched).  Version 2.10.1 is 
quite old.

Duncan Murdoch

On 30/04/11 3:18 PM, Oliver wrote:
> Hello,
>
> when using
>
> Sys.getenv() during startup-phase (.First or .Rprofile)
>   to get the env-variables
> COLUMNS as well as HOST I get empty strings.
>
> After the startup is done, when asking via Sys.getenv()
> by hand, COLUMNS is set (but HOST is not, even "hostname" on the
shell gives me
> a correct answer).
>
> At the moment my problem is the missing COLUMNS value during start up,
> because I want to set the linewidth for printing via
>
>    options(width=Sys.getenv("COLUMNS"))
>
> automatically at startup.
>
> When using
> $ R CMD BATCH myscript.R
> the same problem occurs, but then at least I can understand
> the case (but interpreting "" as "0" by the options()
would be better,
> because the option-setting would then not break the script; it does break
the
> script, when COLUMNS is "").
>
> (btw: Is there a possibility to decide if the script is running in batch
mode or
> interactively? This could be a workaround for "" not interpreted
as "0".)
>
> The setting with the options/Sys.getenv() works, when typed in by hand
> after startup is completed, as well as when sourcing-in a script that
> contains such a options/Sys.getenv-command.
>
>
> here is, what R.version contains:
> =============================================>    _
> platform       x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
> arch           x86_64
> os             linux-gnu
> system         x86_64, linux-gnu
> status
> major          2
> minor          10.1
> year           2009
> month          12
> day            14
> svn rev        50720
> language       R
> version.string R version 2.10.1 (2009-12-14)
> =============================================>
> Is this problem fixed in newer releases?
> Or if not: how can I inform the R developers, so that they can
> pick it up?
> (Some R developers might be on this list?!)
>
> Ciao,
>     Oliver
>
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