enabling core dumps

not really answering your question, but I find it more useful to

 R -d gdb

or

 R -d gdb -f test.R

where test.R reproduces the bug in some minimal code. A variant is

 R -d valgrind -f test.R

if the memory problem is not easy to spot.

Thanks for your reply Martin

Yes, I have used that route before, I have also been playing with the 
emacs "M-x
gdb" option as describe in the R FAQ. But having no first hand 
expertience with
core dumps I am curious why you prefer the -d flag route. Perhaps I'm 
wrong but
I thought examining a core dump enables you to backtrace from the 
moment things
went wrong, this seems to be a useful trick to have...

... if you manage to enable the core dump option that is.

cheers
David