[R] Bug in lmer?

[Mark Lyman]

I am using version 0.98-7 of the Matrix package. I used the RGui 
"Install Packages..." menu option to get the lme4 package from CRAN and 
this version of the Matrix was automatically downloaded as well.

Martin Maechler wrote:

>>>>>>"Mark" == Mark Lyman <mlyman at byu.edu>
>>>>>>    on Thu, 29 Sep 2005 14:44:38 -0600 writes:
>>>>>>            
>>>>>>
>
>    Mark> I am relatively new to R so I am not confident enough in what I am doing 
>    Mark> to be certain this is a bug. 
>
>
>    Mark> I am running R 2.1.1 on a Windows XP 
>    Mark> machine and the lme4 package version 0.98-1. 
>
>lme4 nowadays is heavily based on "Matrix" which version are you
>using there?
>
>    Mark> The following code fits the model I want using the
>    Mark> nlme package version 3.1-60.
>
>      < .............. >  {see a script at the end}
>
>    Mark> The problem is that when I try fitting the model using
>    Mark> the lmer function with the following code:
>
>    Mark> lmer(adg~trt+(1|loc)+(1|block:loc)+(1|loc:trt),mltloc)
>
>    Mark> I get this message from Windows and R closes.
>
>    Mark> >> R for Windows GUI front-end has encountered a problem and needs to 
>    Mark> >> close.  We are sorry for the inconvenience.
>
>That definitely means there is a bug.
>The question is *where* the bug is:  "lme4", "Matrix", "R", "Windows".
>
>One first thing coming to mind is a mismatch of "lme4" and "Matri
>
>    Mark> This same code works on a Macintosh. So it doesn't
>    Mark> seem that I have made an error in my code. 
>
>correct; I can also fit the model nice and quickly on Linux,
>and summary() confirms the same fit {with the "usual problem" of
>different estimates for the degrees of freedoms 'df'}.
>
>So currently the bug only shows on the Windows platform. 
>Could it be that you have a mismatching package "Matrix" version
>there, but not on the Mac?
>
>    Mark> Also if anyone of the random effect terms is removed there is
>    Mark> no problem. Is this something that is being looked at?
>
>not yet, AFAIK.
>
>    Mark> Or I have I made a mistake somewhere? I have included
>    Mark> the data that I am using below.
>
>I'm putting the data and an R script up for FTP,
>so that you or others can run this ``from anywhere'' via
>
> source("ftp://stat.ethz.ch/U/maechler/R/mltloc-ex.R", echo = TRUE)
>
>Maybe this helps diagnosis,
>Martin Maechler
>
>
>  
>