2.1.0a for Macs (PR#7952)

I am writing regarding serious problems that a number of
researchers at a workshop held by the Smithsonian Tropical
Research Institute are encountering with the most recent R
version for Macs (the patched version of 2.1.0 (2.1.0a) that
you indicate should be used over 2.1.0).

The following problems are not specific to my computer but are
being experienced by ALL Mac users at this workshop running
2.1.0a to varying degrees. I installed the program about a week
ago and immediately I started getting a warning messages
particularly when browsing my files using ls(), search(), gc(),
etc.  2.1.0a automatically adds an open parentheses at the end
of any command requiring () (only intermittently, however) and
then generates a warning in red.  I am afraid that I do not
have the warning because R no longer will open on my computer
without reinstallation so I am forced to use a PC.  The same
warning message has been posted by one other on the help email
list.  More recently, R has begun to crash for no particular
reason (no large program running).  Often when I then try to
restart R 2.1.0a crashes during start up and in order to get it
functioning again I have to reinstall!  The first time this
happened I decided to go back to an earlier version of R that I
knew would be stable but following binary compilation no gui is
installed on my computer and I can't run the program.  The only
version my computer can now install properly is 2.1.0a but as
described above the problems with the program prohibit me from
using it.

If you could please advise on how to deal with these problems
(particularly the corruption of my system by 2.1.0a) all the
Mac users at this conference would be appreciative.

Jennifer Baltzer