From p.dalgaard@biostat.ku.dk  Sun Apr 15 23:17:14 2001
From: p.dalgaard@biostat.ku.dk (Peter Dalgaard BSA)
Date: 16 Apr 2001 00:17:14 +0200
Subject: [Rd] Detaching "ctest"
In-Reply-To: Jonathan Rougier's message of "Mon, 9 Apr 2001 09:32:28 +0100 (BST)"
References: <Pine.GSO.4.20.0104090928480.13680-100000@laplace>
Message-ID: <x2snj9oljp.fsf@blueberry.kubism.ku.dk>

Jonathan Rougier <J.C.Rougier@durham.ac.uk> writes:

> > But this is exactly what happens---settings from .Rprofile do override
> > the system and site defaults.  The question is whether .First should be
> > used for package setup, or something else ...
> 
> OK! if you put it like that, then I think that .First should definitely
> *not* be used for package set-up, as it prevents .Rprofile commands from
> being the last things executed before the prompt, and thus removes
> "complete user control" of the set-up.

Ummm, I think you're missing a point here: There is more than one
Rprofile. In normal operation, the system and site Rprofiles are run
*unconditionally* (unless --no-site-file etc. is used). Some things
are not easily undone, package loading for one. Hence it is
unattractive to load packages in the system or site Rprofiles. So what
is there to do? The current construction is to manipulate .First, with
the intention that the user can redefine it in .Rprofile *before it is
being run* and thus have complete control over what packages get
loaded. 

You do want .First to be the last thing run before the prompt, not the
.Rprofile commands, I'm fairly confident about that. The real problem
could be seen as too late loading of the user workspace so that a
stored .First overrides the one set up in the profile. That would be
fairly easy to change, but is it really what one wants??? (If you
explicitly edit .First and save the workspace, wouldn't you expect tne
edited version to be the one run when you start next time?)

-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             Blegdamsvej 3  
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     2200 Cph. N   
 (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark      Ph: (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard@biostat.ku.dk)             FAX: (+45) 35327907
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[Rd] Detaching "ctest"
Peter Dalgaard BSA