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.

cheers,

Rolf Turner


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