1 General Information: README
2 ***************************
4 This is the README file for the distribution of ESS version
8 The first release of the 5.2 series. ESS is a GNU Emacs and XEmacs
9 mode for interactive statistical programming and data analysis.
10 Languages supported: the S family (S 3/4, S-PLUS 3/4/5/6, and R), SAS,
11 XLispStat, Stata and BUGS. Installation help can be found in sections
12 for both Unix and Windows. ESS grew out of the desire for bug fixes and
13 extensions to S-mode and SAS-mode as well as a consistent union of their
14 features in one package.
16 The current development team is led by Martin Maechler since August
17 2004. Former project leader A.J. (Tony) Rossini
18 (<rossini@blindglobe.net>) did the initial port to XEmacs and has been
19 the primary coder. Martin Maechler (<maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch>) and
20 Kurt Hornik (<hornik@ci.tuwien.ac.at>) have assisted with S-PLUS, S4,
21 R, and XLispStat. Stephen Eglen (<stephen@gnu.org>) has worked mostly
22 on R support. Richard M. Heiberger (<rmh@temple.edu>) has assisted
23 with S-PLUS and S4 development for Windows. Richard and Rodney A.
24 Sparapani (<rsparapa@mcw.edu>) have done much of the work implementing
25 interactive SAS (iESS[SAS]) and batch SAS (ESS[SAS]) support.
27 We are grateful to the previous developers of S-mode (Doug Bates, Ed
28 Kademan, Frank Ritter, David M. Smith), SAS-mode (Tom Cook) and
29 Stata-mode (Thomas Lumley).
34 ESS is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
35 the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
36 Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later
39 ESS is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
40 ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
41 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
42 in the file COPYING in the same directory as this file for more details.
47 Changes/New Features in 5.2.3:
48 * ESS[SAS] - When you are working with EBCDIC files on an ASCII
49 platform, .log NOTEs may display as gibberish since the EBCDIC
50 characters are not converted to ASCII prior to their display. So,
51 the function ess-ebcdic-to-ascii-search-and-replace is provided for
52 convenience and is bound to C-F11. This function requires the dd
53 command so Windows users will need to have Cygwin or something
56 Changes/New Features in 5.2.3:
57 * ESS: When new inferior ESS processes are created, by default they
58 will replace the current buffer (this restores behavior from pre
59 5.2.0). If you wish new ESS processes to start in another window
60 of the current frame, set inferior-ess-same-window to nil.
62 * New variables inferior-Splus-args and inferior-R-args provide a
63 way to pass command line arguments to starting S and R processes.
65 Changes/New Features in 5.2.2:
66 * bug-fixes for 5.2.1 (require 'executable), html docs, etc.
68 * ess-lisp-directory/../doc/info added to Info-directory-list if
69 ess-info not found by info
71 * ESS[R]: If you have other versions of R on your exec-path, such as
72 "R-1.8.1" with Unix or "rw1081" with Windows, ESS will find them
73 and create appropriate functions, such as M-x R-1.8.1 or M-x
74 rw1081, for calling them. By default only Unix programs beginning
75 "R-1" and "R-2" and Windows programs parallel to the version of R
76 in your exec-path will be found, but see ess-r-versions and
77 ess-rterm-versions for ways to find other versions of R.
79 * ESS[R]: Other versions of R, such as "R-1.8.1" on Unix and
80 "rw1081" on Windows, are added to the "ESS / Start Process /
83 * ESS[S]: If you have other versions of S-Plus on your Windows
84 computer, such as S-Plus 6.1 or S-Plus 4.5, ESS will find them and
85 create appropriate functions, such as M-x splus61, for calling the
86 console version (Sqpe) inside an emacs buffer. By default only
87 programs installed in the default location will be found, but see
88 ess-SHOME-versions for ways to find other versions of S-Plus.
90 * ESS[S]: Other versions of Sqpe on Windows, such as "splus61", are
91 added to the "ESS / Start Process / Other" menu.
93 * ESS[R]: (bug fix) ess-quit (bound to C-c C-q) should now quit the
94 inferior R process, when issued from either the inferior buffer,
97 Changes/New Features in 5.2.1:
98 * ESS[S] (R and S-plus): now have toolbar support with icons to
99 evaluate code in the inferior process or to switch there. This
100 code is experimental and likely to change as XEmacs/Emacs issues
101 get resolved. The toolbar should be enabled if your Emacs displays
102 images, but can be disabled with the variable ess-use-toolbar.
103 Thanks to David Smith from Insightful for the S-plus logo.
105 * ESS[SAS]: ess-sas-graph-view (F12) enhanced; you can specify
106 external file viewers for each graphics file type via the alist
107 ess-sas-graph-view-viewer-alist; also .jpg/.gif are now handled by
108 image-mode on XEmacs, if available, otherwise by graphics
111 Changes/New Features in 5.2.0:
112 * ESS[BUGS]: new info documentation! now supports interactive
113 processing thanks to Aki Vehtari (mailto:Aki.Vehtari@hut.fi); new
114 architecture-independent unix support as well as support for BUGS
117 * ESS[SAS]: convert .log to .sas with ess-sas-transcript; info
118 documentation improved; Local Variable bug fixes; SAS/IML
119 statements/functions now highlighted; files edited remotely by
120 ange-ftp/EFS/tramp are recognized and pressing SUBMIT opens a
121 buffer on the remote host via the local variable
122 ess-sas-shell-buffer-remote-init which defaults to "ssh"; changed
123 the definition of the variable ess-sas-edit-keys-toggle to boolean
124 rather than 0/1; added the function ess-electric-run-semicolon
125 which automatically reverse indents lines containing only "run;";
126 C-F1 creates MS RTF portrait from the current buffer; C-F2 creates
127 MS RTF landscape from the current buffer; C-F9 opens a SAS DATASET
128 with PROC INSIGHT rather than PROC FSVIEW; C-F10 kills all buffers
129 associated with .sas program; "inferior" aliases for SAS batch:
130 C-c C-r for submit region, C-c C-b for submit buffer, C-c C-x for
131 goto .log; C-c C-y for goto .lst
133 * ESS[S]: Pressing underscore ("_") once inserts " <- " (as before);
134 pressing underscore twice inserts a literal underscore. To stop
135 this smart behaviour, add "(ess-smart-underscore nil)" to your
136 .emacs after ess-site has been loaded;
137 ess-dump-filename-template-proto (new name!) now can be customized
138 successfully (for S language dialects); Support for Imenu has been
139 improved; set ess-imenu-use-S to non-nil to get an "Imenu-S" item
140 on your menubar; ess-help: Now using nice underlines (instead of
143 * ESS[R]: After (require 'essa-r), M-x ess-r-var allows to load
144 numbers from any Emacs buffer into an existing *R* process; M-x
145 ess-rdired gives a "directory editor" of R objects; fixed
146 ess-retr-lastvalue-command, i.e. .Last.value bug (thanks to David
149 * ESS: Support for creating new window frames has been added to ESS.
150 Inferior ESS processes can be created in dedicated frames by
151 setting inferior-ess-own-frame to t. ESS help buffers can also
152 open in new frames; see the documentation for ess-help-own-frame
153 for details. (Thanks to Kevin Rodgers for contributing code.)
155 Changes/New Features in 5.1.24:
156 * The version number is now correct even inside ESS/Emacs
158 Changes/New Features in 5.1.23:
159 * Minor more Makefile clean up.
161 Changes/New Features in 5.1.22:
162 * Besides info documentation, PDF and HTML documentation are also
163 provided (instead of built using "make") and available on the web
164 as well; see ESS web page (http://ess.r-project.org/) and StatLib
165 (http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/general/ESS/doc)
167 * Now that info documentation is available, the README.* files are
168 no longer supported. However, they are still distributed for what
171 * ESS is now an XEmacs package! See XEmacs Installation HOWTO
172 (http://www.xemacs.org/Install/index.html) for details
173 (specifically, items 10-15).
175 * ESS[SAS]: more user-friendly enhancements for remote SAS batch
176 jobs with Kermit file transfers (LOG and OUTPUT function key
177 features now supported). Multiple shells now supported so you can
178 run SAS on different computers from different buffers by setting
179 the buffer-local variable ess-sas-shell-buffer to unique buffer
182 * Major re-vamping of Makefile/Makeconf.
184 Changes/New Features in 5.1.21:
185 * ESS[SAS]: info documentation now available!, see ESS->Help for
186 SAS; F12 opens GSASFILE nearest point for viewing either within
187 emacs, when available, or via an external viewer; more syntax
188 highlighting keywords; more enhancements for remote SAS batch jobs
189 with Kermit; new framework for remote SAS interactive jobs, see
192 * ESS[S]: info documentation now available!, see ESS->Help for the S
195 * Makefile: tag now independent of rel; info files made by
196 doc/Makefile and installed in new info sub-directory
198 Changes/New Features in 5.1.20:
199 * New `options()$STERM' in the S dialects (S, S-Plus, R). The S
200 program can determine the environment in which it is currently
201 running. ESS sets the option to `iESS' or `ddeESS' when it starts
202 an S language process. We recommend other specific values for S
203 language processes that ESS does not start.
205 * New `ess-mouse-me' function, assigned to S-mouse-3 by default.
206 User may click on a word or region and then choose from the menu
207 to display the item, or a summary, or a plot, etc. This feature
208 is still under development.
210 * GNU Emacs 21.1 is now supported (fixed for S dialects, SAS & BUGS),
211 (some from Stephen Eglen).
213 * XEmacs 21.x is now supported (fixed w32-using-nt bug)
215 * XEmacs on Win (NT) is better supported.
217 * Workaround for bug in Sqpe+6 (S-PLUS 6 for Win).
219 * should now work even when imenu is not available (for old
222 * ESS[SAS]: XEmacs-Imenu fix; C-TAB is globalized along with your
223 function-key definitions, if specified; you can specify your SAS
224 library definitions outside of autoexec.sas for ess-sas-data-view
225 with SAS code placed in the variable ess-sas-data-view-libname,
226 also the dataset name is defaulted to the nearest permanent dataset
227 to point; Speedbar support now works for permanent datasets, please
228 ignore first./last.; new font-locking is now the default with more
229 improvements for font-locking PROCs, macro statements, * ; and %* ;
230 comments; you can toggle sas-log-mode with F10 which will font-lock
231 your .log (if it isn't too big); submit remote .sas files accessed
232 with ange-ftp, EFS or Tramp (Kermit is experimental) by setting
233 ess-sas-submit-method to 'sh; ess-sas-submit-command and
234 ess-sas-submit-command-options are buffer-local so you can have
235 local file variable sections at the end of your .sas files to
236 request different executables or specify special options and the
237 local file variables are re-read at submit instead of only at file
238 open so that if you make a change it is picked up immediately;
240 * ESS[BUGS]: font-lock with `in' fixed.
242 * for STATA: font-lock bug fixed.
244 * for Rd mode: C-c C-v and `switch-process' in menu. further, C-c
245 C-f prefix (Rd-font) for inserting or surrounding a word by things
246 such as \code{.}, \code{\link{.}}, \emph{.} etc.
248 * new functions (ess-directory-function) and (ess-narrow-to-defun)
249 ess-directory <-> default-directory logic (Jeff Mincy).
251 * Re-organized Makefile and fixed a few bugs.
253 Changes/New Features in 5.1.19:
254 * S+6 now supported (Tony Rossini (Unix) and Rich Heiberger
257 * New BUGS support through ESS[BUGS] mode (Rodney Sparapani)
258 Templates assist you in writing .bug and .cmd code (.cmd and .log
259 are replaced by .bmd and .bog to avoid emacs extension collisions).
260 Substitution" parameters facilitate "automagic" generation of
261 data...in" and "init...in" filenames, "const N=" from your data
262 file and "monitor()/stats()" commands. Activated by pressing F12.
264 * Fixes for `ess-smart-underscore' SAS breakage (Rich Heiberger)
266 * You can change between PC and Unix, local and global SAS
267 function-key definitions interactively (Rich Heiberger)
269 * C-Submit a highlighted region to SAS batch (Rodney Sparapani)
271 * New and improved SAS syntax highlighting (Rodney Sparapani) To get
272 the new functionality, set ess-sas-run-make-regexp to nil. Also
273 available in .log files via F10.
275 * Open a permanent SAS dataset for viewing via F9 (Rodney Sparapani)
276 You must have the library defined in autoexec.sas for it to work.
278 * User-friendly defaults for `sas-program',
279 `ess-sas-batch-pre-command' and `ess-sas-batch-post-command' as
280 well Customize support for these and other ESS[SAS] variables
283 * `ess-sas-suffix-2' now defaults to .dat via F11 (Rodney Sparapani)
285 * Emacs/XEmacs, Unix/Windows issues collectively handled in
288 * defadvice solves problem of missing *ESS* (thanks to Jeff Mincy)
290 * Improved manual a bit by including things that were only in
293 Changes/New Features in 5.1.18:
294 * New `ess-smart-underscore' function, now assigned to "_" by
295 default. Inserts `ess-S-assign' (customizable " <- "), unless
296 inside string and comments where plain "_" is used instead. (MM)
298 * Fixes for longstanding interactive SAS breakage (RMH)
300 Changes/New Features in 5.1.17:
301 * Documentation for Windows Installation (Rich Heiberger)
303 * removal of ess-vars, finalization of customize support (in the
304 sense that there is no more use of ess-vars, but that we need to
305 fix ess-cust) (AJ Rossini)
307 * Many small (and large) fixes/contributions (MMaechler)
309 * addition of the "S-equal" variable and provide M-x ess-add-MM-keys
310 a way to remap "_" to `ess-S-assign', typically " <- ", but
311 customizable. (MMaechler)
313 Changes/New Features in 5.1.16:
318 Changes/New Features in 5.1.15:
321 Changes/New Features in 5.1.14:
322 * Yet more fixes to SAS mode, (Rich Heiberger and Rodney Sparapani)
324 * Customize support (for most Emacsen which support it) (AJRossini)
326 * ARC and ViSta support out of the box, and fixes for XLispStat
329 Changes/New Features in 5.1.13:
330 * Version numbering finally all depending on the ./VERSION file,
331 thanks to Martin Maechler.
333 * Yet more fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rich Heiberger.
335 Changes/New Features in 5.1.12:
336 * Splus 5.1 stabilized, thanks to Martin Maechler, Bill Venables,
337 Chuck Taylor, and others.
339 * More fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rodney Sparapani and Rich
342 Changes/New Features in 5.1.11:
343 * More fixes to Stata mode, thanks to Brendan Halpin
344 (mailto:brendan@essex.ac.uk).
346 * fixed bugs in ESS-elsewhere, thanks to many testers
348 * README.SPLUS4WIN has DETAILED instructions for S-PLUS 2000, thanks
349 to David Brahm (mailto:brahm@alum.mit.edu).
351 * Fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rodney Sparapani
353 Changes/New Features in 5.1.10:
354 * More fixes to Stata mode
356 * primitive generic version of ESS-elsewhere
358 * Small fixes to SAS/Stata.
360 Changes/New Features in 5.1.9:
363 * Literate Data Analysis using Noweb works
365 Changes/New Features in 5.1.8:
368 * R documentation mode defaults changed
370 Changes/New Features in 5.1.2:
371 * able to use inferior iESS mode to communicate directly with a
372 running S-Plus 4.x process using the Microsoft DDE protocol. We
373 use the familiar (from Unix ESS) C-c C-n and related key sequences
374 to send lines from the S-mode file to the inferior S process. We
375 continue to edit S input files in ESS[S] mode and transcripts of
376 previous S sessions in ESS Transcript mode. All three modes know
377 the S language, syntax, and indentation patterns and provide the
378 syntactic highlighting that eases the programming tasks.
383 * Languages Supported:
384 * S family (S 3/4, S-PLUS 3.x/4.x/5.x/6.x, and R)
392 * XLispStat including Arc and ViSta
394 * Editing source code (S family, SAS, BUGS, XLispStat)
395 * Syntactic indentation and highlighting of source code
397 * Partial evaluation of code
399 * Loading and error-checking of code
401 * Source code revision maintenance
403 * Batch execution (SAS, BUGS)
405 * Use of imenu to provide links to appropriate functions
407 * Interacting with the process (S family, SAS, XLispStat)
408 * Command-line editing
410 * Searchable Command history
412 * Command-line completion of S family object names and file
415 * Quick access to object lists and search lists
417 * Transcript recording
419 * Interface to the help system
421 * Transcript manipulation (S family, XLispStat)
422 * Recording and saving transcript files
424 * Manipulating and editing saved transcripts
426 * Re-evaluating commands from transcript files
428 * Help File Editing (R)
429 * Syntactic indentation and highlighting of source code.
431 * Sending Examples to running ESS process.
438 Versions 5.2.x are meant to be release-quality versions. While some
439 new features are being introduced, we are cleaning up and improving the
440 interface. We know about some remaining documentation inconsistencies.
441 Patches or suggested fixes with bug reports are much appreciated!
446 ESS has been tested with
448 * S-PLUS 3.3, 3.4, 4.5, 2000, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2
462 on the following platforms
466 * Solaris/SunOS (all)
468 * Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP (SPLUS 4.5/2000/6.*, R, SAS and
471 * Apple Mac OS (SAS for OS 9 and X11 R for OS X)
473 with the following versions of emacs
475 * GNU Emacs 20.3, 20.4, 20.5, 20.6, 20.7, 21.1, 21.3
477 * XEmacs 21.0, 21.1.13-14, 21.4.0-8, 21.4.9-13/21.5.17(1),
478 21.4.14-15; as of June 2004, ESS does not work with XEmacs Betas
481 * GNU Emacs <20.3 and XEmacs <21.0(2)
483 ---------- Footnotes ----------
485 (1) requires the files.el patch to revert-buffer for the Local
486 Variables updating problem
488 (2) These releases of emacs are no longer supported, so an upgrade
489 is recommended if you plan to use ESS. If you have GNU Emacs 19.29,
490 see *Note Unix installation::. Also, note that the `custom' library
491 bundled with Emacs 19.34 is too _old_, its API is incompatible with the
492 `new custom' bundled with recent Emacsen. The `new custom' for Emacs
493 19.34 is available for download here
494 (ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/Staff/Per.Abrahamsen/custom/custom-1.9962.tar.gz).
496 Getting the Latest Version
497 ==========================
499 The latest version of ESS is always available on the web at: ESS web
500 page (http://ess.r-project.org) or StatLib
501 (http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/general/ESS/)
503 The latest development version of ESS is available via
504 `https://svn.R-project.org/ESS/', the ESS Subversion repository. If
505 you have a Subversion client (see `http://subversion.tigris.org/'), you
506 can download the sources using:
507 % svn checkout https://svn.r-project.org/ESS/trunk PATH
509 which will put the ESS files into directory PATH. Later, within that
510 directory, `svn update' will bring that directory up to date.
511 Windows-based tools such as TortoiseSVN are also available for
512 downloading the files. Alternatively, you can browse the sources with a
513 web browser at: ESS SVN site (https://svn.r-project.org/ESS/trunk).
514 However, please use a subversion client instead to minimize the load
517 If you remove other versions of ESS from your emacs load-path, you
518 can then use the development version by adding the following to .emacs:
520 (load "/path/to/ess-svn/lisp/ess-site.el")
522 Note that https is required, and that the SSL certificate for the
523 Subversion server of the R project is
525 Certificate information:
526 - Hostname: svn.r-project.org
527 - Valid: from Jul 16 08:10:01 2004 GMT until Jul 14 08:10:01 2014 GMT
528 - Issuer: Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, CH
529 - Fingerprint: c9:5d:eb:f9:f2:56:d1:04:ba:44:61:f8:64:6b:d9:33:3f:93:6e:ad
531 (currently, there is no "trusted certificate"). You can accept this
532 certificate permanently and will not be asked about it anymore.
534 Installation (from tar file)
535 ============================
537 We now discuss installation, which might happen under Unix or
538 Microsoft Windows. First, we discuss Unix installation. *Note Unix
541 For Microsoft Windows Installation please skip to the *Note
542 Microsoft Windows installation::.
547 1. cd to a directory where you want to install ESS, creating it if
548 necessary. This directory will be referred to below as ESSDIR.
550 2. Retrieve the latest version from ESS downloads area
551 (http://ess.r-project.org/downloads) to ESSDIR.
553 3. Decompress/unarchive the files from the disribution.
554 gunzip ess-VERSION.tar.gz
555 tar xvf ess-VERSION.tar
557 (or: `gunzip < ess-VERSION.tar.gz | tar xvf -' ).
558 (or using GNU tar: `tar zxvf ess-VERSION.tar.gz').
560 The `tar' command will create the subdirectory ess-VERSION and
561 unarchive the files there.
563 4. Edit the file `ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site.el' as explained
564 in the comments section of that file.
567 (load "ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site")
568 to your user or system installation file (GNU Emacs uses
569 `$HOME/.emacs' and XEmacs uses `$HOME/.xemacs/init.el' for the
570 user initialization file. GNU Emacs uses default.el or
571 site-init.el and XEmacs uses site-start.el for the system
574 Alternatively, if ess-site.el is in your current Lisp path, you
577 to configure emacs for ESS.
579 6. That's it! If you are installing just a local copy of ESS for
580 yourself, ESS is now ready to be used. (The remaining steps below
581 are for advanced installation.) To edit statistical programs,
582 load the files with the requiste extensions (".sas" for SAS, ".S"
583 for S-PLUS, ".R" for R, and ".lsp" for XLispStat). To start a
584 statistical process within Emacs, such as R, type `M-x R'.
586 7. (OPTIONAL) If you are running S-PLUS or R, you might consider
587 installing the database files. From within emacs, `C-x d' to the
588 directory containing ESS. Now:
590 to get S running. Once you see the SPLUS prompt, do:
591 M-x ess-create-object-name-db
592 (this will create the file `ess-s+6-namedb.el'; if it isn't in the
593 ESS directory, move it there).
595 Then, completions will be autoloaded and will not be regenerated
598 For R, do the same, using
600 and then `M-x ess-create-object-name-db' creating
601 `ess-r-namedb.el'; if it isn't in the ESS directory, move it
604 8. (OPTIONAL) READ THIS ITEM THOROUGHLY BEFORE STARTING:
606 If you want to place the compiled files in other locations edit
607 the LISPDIR and INFODIR entries in `Makeconf' in the
608 ESSDIR/ess-VERSION directory (if you are using XEmacs, then you
609 also need to edit the EMACS entry as follows: EMACS=xemacs).
611 You can compile those files by:
614 When that completes successfully, install the compiled files:
617 This will install the compiled info files and lisp files. If you
618 are an XEmacs user, then you should be done. If not, then you may
619 have to edit/create the file `dir' that is found in the directory
620 specified by `INFODIR': see the sample `dir' in
621 ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/doc/info. If `dir' does not exist in
622 `INFODIR', then the sample `dir' will be installed.
624 _Note 1:_ It is assumed that GNU make will be used; otherwise,
625 edit the ESSVERSION and ESSVERSIONTAG entries in `Makeconf'
626 appropriately, e.g.: ESSVERSION=5.2.0 and ESSVERSIONTAG=ESS-5-2-0
628 _Note 2:_ ESS can be installed for XEmacs as an XEmacs package
629 much more easily than what has been described anywhere above.
630 However, the latest ESS version will not be available at the same
631 time as an XEmacs package; generally, it can take weeks or months
632 to appear in the latter format. For more information on
633 installing ESS as an XEmacs package see Quickstart Package Guide
634 (http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/packageGuide.html).
637 Microsoft Windows installation
638 ==============================
640 For Microsoft Windows installation, please follow the next steps:
641 (see separate instructions above for UNIX *Note Unix installation::.
643 1. cd to a directory where you keep emacs lisp files, or create a new
644 directory (for example, `c:\emacs\') to hold the distribution.
645 This directory will be referred to below as "the ESS distribution
646 directory". It will contain, at the end, either the tar file
647 `ess-VERSION.tar.gz' or the zip file `ess-VERSION.zip', and a
648 directory for the ESS source, which will be termed "the
649 ESS-VERSION source directory".
651 2. Retrieve the compressed tar file `ess-VERSION.tar.gz' or the
652 zipped file `ess-VERSION.zip' from one of the FTP or WWW archive
653 sites via FTP (or HTTP). Be aware that http browsers on Windows
654 frequently change the "." and "-" characters in filenames to other
655 punctuation. Please change the names back to their original form.
657 3. Copy `ess-VERSION.tar.gz' to the location where you want the
658 ess-VERSION directory, for example to
659 `c:\emacs\ess-VERSION.tar.gz', and cd there. For example,
663 Extract the files from the distribution, which will unpack into a
664 subdirectory, `ess-VERSION'.
665 gunzip ess-VERSION.tar.gz
666 tar xvf ess-VERSION.tar
667 (or: `gunzip < ess-VERSION.tar.gz | tar xvf -' ).
668 (or: from the zip file: `unzip ess-VERSION.zip')
670 The `tar' command will extract files into the current directory.
672 Do not create `ess-VERSION' yourself, or you will get an extra
673 level of depth to your directory structure.
675 4. Windows users will usually be able to use the `lisp/ess-site.el'
676 as distributed. Only rarely will changes be needed.
678 5. Windows users will need to make sure that the directories for the
679 software they will be using is in the PATH environment variable.
680 On Windows 9x, add lines similar to the following to your
681 `c:\autoexec.bat' file:
682 path=%PATH%;c:\progra~1\spls2000\cmd
683 On Windows NT/2000/XP, add the directories to the PATH using the
684 `My Computer/Control Panel/System/Advanced/Environment Variables'
685 menu. Note that the directory containing the program is added to
686 the PATH, not the program itself. One such line is needed for
687 each software program. Be sure to use the abbreviation `progra~1'
688 and not the long version with embedded blanks. Use backslashes
692 (load "/PATH/ess-site")
693 to your .emacs (or _emacs) file (or default.el or site-init.el, for
694 a site-wide installation). Replace `/PATH' above with the value
695 of ess-lisp-directory as defined in `ess-site.el'. Use
696 forwardslashes `/'. (GNU Emacs uses the filename `%HOME%/.emacs'
697 and XEmacs uses the filename `%HOME%/.xemacs/init.el' for the
698 initialization file.)
700 7. To edit statistical programs, load the files with the requisite
701 extensions (".sas" for SAS, ".S" or "s" or "q" or "Q" for S-PLUS,
702 ".r" or ".R" for R, and ".lsp" for XLispStat).
704 8. To run statistical processes under emacs:
706 To start the S-PLUS 6.x GUI from ESS under emacs:
709 You will then be asked for a pathname ("S starting data
710 directory?"), from which to start the process. The prompt will
711 propose your current directory as the default. ESS will start the
712 S-PLUS GUI. There will be slight delay during which emacs is
713 temporarily frozen. ESS will arrange for communication with the
714 S-PLUS GUI using the DDE protocol. Send lines or regions from the
715 emacs buffer containing your S program (for example, `myfile.s')
716 to the S-PLUS Commands Window with the `C-c C-n' or `C-c C-r' keys.
717 (If you are still using S-PLUS 4.x or 2000, then use `M-x S+4'.)
719 To start an S-PLUS 6.x session inside an emacs buffer--and without
723 You will then be asked for a pathname ("S starting data
724 directory?"), from which to start the process. The prompt will
725 propose your current directory as the default. You get Unix-like
726 behavior, in particular the entire transcript is available for
727 emacs-style search commands. Send lines or regions from the emacs
728 buffer containing your S program (for example, `myfile.s') to the
729 *S+6* buffer with the `C-c C-n' or `C-c C-r' keys. Interactive
730 graphics are available with Sqpe by using the java library
731 supplied with S-PLUS 6.1 and newer releases. Enter the commands:
734 Graphs can be saved from the `java.graph' device in several
735 formats, but not PostScript. If you need a PostScript file you
736 will need to open a separate `postscript' device. (If you are
737 still using S-PLUS 4.x or 2000, then use `M-x Sqpe+4'.)
739 To connect to an already running S-PLUS GUI (started, for example,
740 from the S-PLUS icon):
742 You will then be asked for a pathname ("S starting data
743 directory?"), from which to start the process. The prompt will
744 propose your current directory as the default. ESS will arrange
745 for communication with the already running S-PLUS GUI using the
746 DDE protocol. Send lines or regions from the emacs buffer
747 containing your S program (for example, `myfile.s') to the S-PLUS
748 Commands Window with the `C-c C-n' or `C-c C-r' keys. (If you are
749 still using S-PLUS 4.x or 2000, then use `M-x S+4-existing'.)
751 If you wish to run R, you can start it with:
754 XLispStat can not currently be run with
756 Hopefully, this will change. However, you can still edit with
757 emacs, and cut and paste the results into the XLispStat *Listener*
758 Window under Microsoft Windows.
760 9. (OPTIONAL) If you are running Sqpe or R, you might consider
761 installing the database files. From within emacs, `C-x d' to the
762 directory containing ESS. Now:
764 to get S running. Once you see the SPLUS prompt, do:
765 M-x ess-create-object-name-db
766 (this will create the file `ess-s+6-namedb.el'; if it isn't in the
767 ESS directory, move it there).
769 Then, completions will be autoloaded and will not be regenerated
772 For R, do the same, using
774 and then `M-x ess-create-object-name-db' creating
775 `ess-r-namedb.el'; if it isn't in the ESS directory, move it
784 Please send bug reports, suggestions etc. to
786 <ESS-bugs@stat.math.ethz.ch>
788 The easiest way to do this is within Emacs by typing
790 `M-x ess-submit-bug-report'
792 This also gives the maintainers valuable information about your
793 installation which may help us to identify or even fix the bug.
795 If Emacs reports an error, backtraces can help us debug the problem.
796 Type "M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET". Then run the
797 command that causes the error and you should see a *Backtrace* buffer
798 containing debug information; send us that buffer.
800 Note that comments, suggestions, words of praise and large cash
801 donations are also more than welcome.
806 There is a mailing list for discussions and announcements relating to
807 ESS. Join the list by sending an e-mail with "subscribe ess-help" (or
808 "help") in the body to <ess-help-request@stat.math.ethz.ch>;
809 contributions to the list may be mailed to
810 <ess-help@stat.math.ethz.ch>. Rest assured, this is a fairly
811 low-volume mailing list.
813 The purposes of the mailing list include
815 * helping users of ESS to get along with it.
817 * discussing aspects of using ESS on Emacs and XEmacs.
819 * suggestions for improvements.
821 * announcements of new releases of ESS.
823 * posting small patches to ESS.
828 * A.J. Rossini (mailto:rossini@blindglobe.net)
830 * Richard M. Heiberger (mailto:rmh@temple.edu)
832 * Kurt Hornik (mailto:hornik@ci.tuwien.ac.at)
834 * Martin Maechler (mailto:maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch)
836 * Rodney A. Sparapani (mailto:rsparapa@mcw.edu)
838 * Stephen Eglen (mailto:stephen@gnu.org)