[R] help.start() doesn't work

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Tue, 27 Dec 2005, Peter Dalgaard wrote:

> Andreas Zocher <andreas.zocher at postmail.ch> writes:
>
>> I installed the latest R-package "R-2.1.1-1.rh4AS.i686.rpm" on a Red Hat
>> Desktop 4 (RH EL4) machine. When I try to get help by the help.start()
>> command an error message appears:
>>
>> -----
>>> help.start()
>> Making links in per-session dir ...
>> If '/usr/bin/mozilla' is already running, it is *not* restarted, and
>>     you must switch to its window.
>> Otherwise, be patient ...
>> sh: /usr/bin/mozilla: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
>> sh: /usr/bin/mozilla: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
>> -----
>>
>> The firefox browser is installed in "/usr/lib/firefox-1.0.7" by
>> default.
>>
>> How can I change R's browser path?
>
> options(browser="/usr/bin/firefox")
>
> is one way. Setting the environment variable R_BROWSER (before
> starting R) is another. And meddling with the Renviron file, personal
> or system-wide, is a third method.
>
> This information does seem to be a bit tricky to dig out from the R
> documentation, especially the R_BROWSER bit. I can only find a
> somewhat oblique reference in the R-admin manual and of course
> ?Startup points you towards the Renvironment files and
> $RHOME/etc/Renviron demonstrates what you can set and how.

But the problem here is installing an RPM with a missing dependency .... 
If you are going to install binary versions of R you must be on the 
lookout for such things (which seem quite common, unfortunately).

In this case it is much preferable to install R from the sources (or SRPM) 
to get a current version of R, and then the section `Setting the browser' 
of the R-admin manual is obviously relevant.

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595