Configuring R-2.10 help html server on Linux?

On 24/11/2009, at 12:21 PM, Tom Wainwright wrote:

Hi,

My Fedora 11 linux (version 2.6.30.9-96.fc11.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Nov  
4 00:02:04
EST 2009) recently updated me to R-2.10.0, and help.start() is no  
longer
working.  I see in the release notes that R now uses an internal  
web server to
autogenerate help pages.  Here's what I'm getting:

IN R:

help.start()

   starting httpd help server ... done
   If '/usr/bin/xdg-open' is already running, it is *not*  
restarted, and
       you must switch to its window.
   Otherwise, be patient ...

IN Firefox:

Firefox starts up, but gets a "connection refused" error:

   While trying to retrieve the URL: http://127.0.0.1:11586/doc/html/index.html
   The following error was encountered:
       * Connection to 127.0.0.1 Failed
   The system returned:
       (111) Connection refused

I have checked all my firewall settings, and as far as I can tell  
the connection
should be allowed.  In fact, and unexpectedly, if I try on the  
command line:
	wget http://127.0.0.1:11586/doc/html/index.html
the index document is returned, so I know the R server is running  
OK on that
port, but apparently refusing the connection to Firefox.

Has anyone else had a similar experience or have any wild guesses  
about a solution?

I had a similar experience on my IMac (Mac OS X Version 10.4.11) ---  
but the error
message made some mention of ``proxies''.  The problem got fixed by  
adjusting
the Firefox preferences.  On the Mac the appropriate set of clicks is
Advanced --> Network --- Configure how Firefox connects to the  
Internet (Settings)

Then (I think!) the key was to click on/activate ``Manual proxy  
configuration'', and
then to make sure that ``127.0.0.1'' appears in the window labelled  
``No Proxy for:''.

This is all Mac stuff, and it's not at all clear to me that it will  
translate to the
Linux setting, but it *might* give you somewhere to start.  Good luck.