[GRASS-stats] GRASS can't find R packages from personal library on Windows

[Roger Bivand]

On Fri, 18 Nov 2016, Helmut Kudrnovsky wrote:

> Roger Bivand wrote
>> On Thu, 17 Nov 2016, Roger Bivand wrote:
>> 
>>> On Thu, 17 Nov 2016, Helmut Kudrnovsky wrote:
>>>
>>>> >  My Windows 7, GRASS 7.0.4 shows identical .libPaths() values both
>>>> inside
>>>> >  and out with RGui. I don't know how the location of the personal
>>>> library
>>>> >  folder is recorded - is it in the registry? How might one know? It
>>>> looks
>>>> >  like:
>>>> > 
>>>> >  Sys.getenv("R_LIBS_USER") 
>>>>
>>>>  tested within a winGRASS7.0.5 session:
>>>> 
>>>> >  Sys.getenv("R_LIBS_USER")
>>>>  [1] "C:\\Users\\test/R/win-library/3.3"
>>>> >  .libPaths()
>>>>  [1] "C:/Program Files/R/R-3.3.1/library"
>>>>
>>>>  R_LIBS_USER is listed there within the winGRASS session, but the path
>>>>  itself
>>>>  looks odd.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately, I couldn't reproduce this with stand-alone GRASS 7.0.5 or
>>> 7.2, 
>>> Windows 7 Pro, R 3.3.2. I see the same .libPaths() values inside and
>>> outside. 
>>> But see below - I found out how to reproduce the problem predictably.
>>>
>>> The reason was (of course) that I'd forgotten that I had set R_LIBS_USER
>>> in 
>>> Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Advanced system
>>> settings -> 
>>> Environment Variables. I'd done this as a response to the extra work
>>> caused 
>>> at each annual change of the default address as R's version was
>>> incremented. 
>>> See also:
>>>
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/R-manual/R-devel/library/base/html/libPaths.html
>>>
>>> So a workaround might to use the R_LIBS_USER environment variable in that 
>>> setting, checking that the directory exists. R uses it internally as 
>>> generated, but doesn't export it. I don't know how this plays
>>> cross-platform.
>> 
>> In a context with Windows 7 without setting the R_LIBS_USER environment 
>> variable, R outside GRASS reports:
>> 
>>> Sys.getenv("HOME")
>> [1] "C:\\Users\\rsb\\Documents"
>>> .libPaths()
>> [1] "C:/Users/rsb/Documents/R/win-library/3.3"
>> [2] "C:/Program Files/R/R-3.3.2/library"
>> 
>> but inside GRASS %HOME% is re-defined, so:
>> 
>>> Sys.getenv("HOME")
>> [1] "C:\\Users\\rsb"
>>> .libPaths()
>> [1] "c:/Program Files/R/R-3.3.2/library"
>> 
>> as R cannot construct: subdirectory ‘R/win-library/x.y’ of the home 
>> directory, for R x.y.z, because "C:\\Users\\rsb/R/win-library/x.y" does 
>> not exist, and that is where R is looking (here in GRASS):
>> 
>>> Sys.getenv("R_LIBS_USER")
>> [1] "C:\\Users\\rsb/R/win-library/3.3"
>> 
>> (the different dirseps do not matter).
>> 
>> Does WinGRASS need to change the HOME environment variable? If it does, 
>> users of R in GRASS need to set R_LIBS or R_LIBS_USER, easiest once via 
>> Control Panel.
>
> could you download the files from
> https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/browser/grass/trunk/mswindows/external/rbatch,
> copy these to an arbitrary folder e.g. C:\wd\testfolder, open a windows
> console within this folder and type R in the console, then try your test
> with  Sys.getenv("R_LIBS_USER") and  .libPaths()?
>
> for me it works that the general and private library is found by R.

OK, looks like this:

> Sys.getenv("R_LIBS_USER")
[1] "C:\\Users\\rsb\\Documents/R/win-library/3.3"
> .libPaths()
[1] "C:/Users/rsb/Documents/R/win-library/3.3"
[2] "C:/Program Files/R/R-3.3.2/library"
> any(match(installed.packages()[,"Package"], "rgrass7"))
[1] TRUE

But I don't see any recent revisions in that directory?

Roger

>
> I'll have a look if /where winGRASS changes %HOME%
>
>
>
>
> -----
> best regards
> Helmut
> --
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-- 
Roger Bivand
Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics,
Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen, Norway.
voice: +47 55 95 93 55; fax +47 55 95 91 00
e-mail: Roger.Bivand at nhh.no
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2392-6140
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http://depsy.org/person/434412