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R commander (Rcmdr) won't start [SOLVED]

4 messages · John Fox, gabriele pallotti, Rolf Turner

John Fox
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Dear Gabriele,

I'm glad that you were able to solve your problem. I spent a bit of time today updating my R from 3.6.0 to 3.6.1 and updating all R packages on Ubuntu, and, for what is now an obvious reason, I was unable to duplicate the problem.

Saving the .Rhistory file is benign but saving the R workspace at the end of a session in .RData can be problematic, and not just for the Rcmdr. You'll notice that while R makes saving the workspace the default (presumably to avoid inadvertent data loss, and in my opinion not a good default choice), the Rcmdr doesn't offer to save the R workspace when you select "File > Exit > From Commander and R" from the Rcmdr menus.

Best,
 John

  -----------------------------
  John Fox, Professor Emeritus
  McMaster University
  Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
  Web: http::/socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox
1 day later
gabriele pallotti
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Dear John,
thank you for your prompt reply. An inexperienced user like me tends to see
the .Rdata folder like the document folder for other programs, and, as one
doesn't have to delete the document folder when updating Libreoffice, tends
to think the same for R.
But let me take the opportunity to express a huge thank you for your work
on Rcmdr. For people like me, who do statistical analyses just a few times
a year, it is a very precious resource, which can also serve as an
introduction to command-line R. As an applied linguist with a background in
semiotics, I would have plenty of reasons to explain why a graphic
interface is such a good thing. As a taxpayer, I appreciate the fact that
it makes us saves money as it allows students and researchers in the
humanities, like me, to do some basic statistics without buying SPSS
licences.
I don't want to open a debate here on the pros and cons of graphical
interfaces. Let me just say you're doing an excellent service to the
community, both with your package and your replies to this forum, which
shows you're a really kind person and deserve all our appreciation.
Best wishes
Gabriele Pallotti (Italy)




Il giorno ven 6 dic 2019 alle ore 22:58 Fox, John <jfox at mcmaster.ca> ha
scritto:

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      John Fox
    

    

      
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Dear Gabriele,

            

      
      
      
    

        
The potential problem with .RData is that it's not just a file that saves the contents of the R workspace at the end of a session, but that the saved workspace is then loaded at the start of a subsequent session. This can create problems (again, not just for the Rcmdr) in that subsequent session, and not only when R is updated.

            

      
      
      
    

        
Thank you for your very kind remarks.

Best,
 John

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Rolf Turner
    

    

      
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On 8/12/19 9:35 pm, gabriele pallotti wrote:

        

            

      
      
      
    

        
<SNIP>

You should be aware that .RData (note the upper case "D") is *not* a 
"folder" (or "directory" in the parlance of civilised, i.e. Linux, 
users).  Rather it is a single binary *file*.  It behaves like a 
directory in some sense in that it "contains" (or may contain)  one or 
may R objects which similarly are "like" individual files.  However 
there is a distinction and it can be important to keep this distinction 
in mind in order to understand subtle phenomena that may appear.

cheers,

Rolf Turner