help.start in R-1.7.0 with Netscape 7.0.

The recent discussion on lexical scoping has enlightened me
as regards the phenomenon that I found so puzzling yesterday:

So help() doesn't find the local copy of browseURL() unless there is
also a local copy of help() --- and that local copy needs to have
been created by sourcing a text file!!!  This doesn't make any sense
to me.  It verges on the mystical.  What on earth is going on?

Thomas Lumley's succinct explanation

... the lookup depends on where a function was defined, not where
it was called from.

made the light click on.  No mystical behaviour at all.

The silence as regards the substance of my question has been
deafening, however.

***HOW*** do I get help()/browseURL() to acquire a sensible idea of
``isLocal'' so that Netscape does not keep demanding new windows and
new ``profiles''?

Does this behaviour not amount to a bug in help()/browseURL()?

				cheers,

					Rolf Turner
					rolf at math.unb.ca