(ess-submit-bug-report): Use insert-buffer-substring, not

[ess.git] / README

1 General Information: README
*****************************

This is the README file for the distribution of ESS version

   5.2.13

   ESS is a GNU Emacs and XEmacs mode for interactive statistical
programming and data analysis.  Languages supported: the S family (S
3/4, S-PLUS 3/4/5/6/7, and R), SAS, XLispStat, Stata and BUGS.
Installation help can be found in sections for both Unix and Windows.
For INSTALLATION, see way below.

ESS grew out of the desire for bug fixes and extensions to S-mode and
SAS-mode as well as a consistent union of their features in one package.

   The current development team is led by Martin Maechler since August
2004. Former project leader A.J. (Tony) Rossini
(<rossini@blindglobe.net>) did the initial port to XEmacs and has been
the primary coder.  Martin Maechler (<maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch>) and
Kurt Hornik (<Kurt.Hornik@R-project.org>) have assisted with S-PLUS,
S4, R, and XLispStat.  Stephen Eglen (<stephen@gnu.org>) has worked
mostly on R support.  Richard M. Heiberger (<rmh@temple.edu>) has
assisted with S-PLUS and S4 development for Windows.  Richard and
Rodney A. Sparapani (<rsparapa@mcw.edu>) have done much of the work
implementing interactive SAS (iESS[SAS]) and batch SAS (ESS[SAS])
support.

   We are grateful to the previous developers of S-mode (Doug Bates, Ed
Kademan, Frank Ritter, David M. Smith), SAS-mode (Tom Cook) and
Stata-mode (Thomas Lumley).

1.1 License
===========

ESS is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later
version.

   ESS is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
in the file COPYING in the same directory as this file for more details.

1.2 Starting an ESS process
===========================

To start an S session on Unix or on Windows when you use the Cygwin
bash shell, simply type `M-x S RET'.

   To start an S session on Windows when you use the MSDOS prompt
shell, simply type `M-x S+6-msdos RET'.

1.3 New Features
================

Changes/New Features in 5.2.13:
   * New variable, `ess-use-inferior-program-name-in-buffer-name',
     which uses the executable name instead of the dialect name for R.
     Feature request.

   * ESS[S] `ess-execute-screen-options' now also works correctly when
     there is more than one window *side-by-side* in the same frame and
     runs in the correct buffer also when there is more than one S
     buffer.

   * iESS[S] new functions `ess-eval-paragraph-and-step' and
     `ess-eval-function-or-paragraph-and-step' are bound to keys  `C-c
     C-p' and `C-c C-c' respectively.

   * ESS[S] new function `ess-toggle-S-assign-key' allows to assign the
     " <- " insertion to an arbitrary key.

   * ESS[S] long standing bugs in ess-help for Windows (S-plus GUI)
     fixed.

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.12:
   * ESS[SAS]: `M-;' fixed, but the XEmacs function `comment-dwim' may
     be broken, if so, use `M-x comment-region' and `M-x
     uncomment-region' instead; only valid PROCs are fontified which is
     very helpful finding syntax errors (currently supported: BASE,
     ETS, FSP, GRAPH, IML, INSIGHT and STAT); the "feature" where
     `F'-keys take you to an empty buffer when the requested
     destination is a file that does not exist has been fixed, now the
     request results in a no-op.  Further, sas-mode now also works in
     simple terminals.

   * Rterm/Cygwin combination works under Microsoft Windows.

   * ESS[R]: internal calls use baseenv() instead of NULL and define
     'baseenv' where needed.

   * New experimental support for installing ESS.  See the file
     `lisp/ess-install.el'.

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.11:
   * ESS Info entry and `dir' handled more effectively for GNU Emacs
     users

   * ESS[SAS]: temporary files created for batch submission of a region
     are now named based on the current file; see `ess-sas-file-root'
     for details; all `lag' and `dif' functions now fontified correctly

   * iESS[SAS]: fixed a few nagging bugs, however, still does not
     appear to work at this time; please let us know if you have any
     ideas.

   * ESS[S]: Support for running other versions of Splus has been added
     for unix.  Two new variables, `ess-s-versions' and
     `ess-s-versions-list', are used to tell ESS what other versions of
     Splus you would like to run.

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.10:
   * ESS[R]: ess-r-versions can no longer be customized (since the
     customization was not taking effect unless customizations were
     loaded before ESS).  Its value has been changed so that it will
     also find R executables beginning "R-devel" and "R-patched".  If
     you wish to change this variable, it must be set in your `.emacs'
     before ESS is loaded.

   * Installation with GNU Make enhanced:  unix and unix-like operating
     systems will now be able to install ESS for all users in either a
     GNU Emacs site-lisp or an XEmacs package configuration by editing
     `lisp/ess-site.el' and `Makeconf' accordingly, then issuing `make
     install'

   * ESS[S]: Filename completion (inside strings) now also works in
     XEmacs for R and S-plus.

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.9:
   * ESS[R] for Windows:  the \ directory character bug with respect to
     ess-load-file has been eradicated.

   * iESS[SAS]: `C-c C-r' and `C-c C-b' once again work as intended and
     documented.

   * ESS[S]: M-x ess-fix-EQ-assign is a bit more agressive.

   * ESS[S]: Imenu now also shows setAs(), etc.

   * ESS[R]: R function pattern enhanced with underlying code such that
     `M-C-a' (`ess-beginning-of-function') etc now work for many more
     cases, including S4 method definitions.

   * iESS[R]: myOwnhelp(1) no longer wrongly triggers help(1).

   * ESS[R]: Improved detection of bogus help buffers: valid help
     buffers containing with the string "no documentation"(e.g. contour)
     were being treated as bogus.

   * ESS[R]: In R help buffers, if `options("help.try.all.packages" =
     TRUE)' then `?rlm' will list which packages rlm is defined in.
     This help  buffer is not bogus, but instead is now relabelled
     "*help[R](rlm in  packages)*".

   * ESS[STA]: add "//" as comment starting character to syntax-table.

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.8:
   * iESS: [Tab] completes *file* names "inside string" as in earlier
     (<= 5.2.3) ESS versions.

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.7:
   * If you use Custom to change the variable ess-toolbar-items, the
     new toolbar is used in all subsequent ESS buffers.

   * ESS[SAS]: new feature:  if ess-sas-log-max >0 and your .log grows
     to more than ess-sas-log-max bytes, just the first ess-sas-log-max
     bytes are refreshed; this is helpful when your .sas program
     generates lots of error messages and gets too big for emacs to
     display

   * ESS[R/S]: `M-;' in R/S editing modes will now indent with either
     one or two hashes depending on context.

   * ESS[R]: David Whiting's Sweave extensions (to 'noweb') are now
     available (from ess-swv.el loaded by default).

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.6:
   * Removed non-ASCII characters in a few files.

   * ESS[R]: now works better when UTF-8 locale is active; in
     particular, you get correct directional quotes in R's startup
     message  for R-devel (unstable development version of R 2.1.0)
     when using  environment variables LANGUAGE=en@quot
     LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

   * ESS[SAS]: toggling of .log mode improved (`F10'); toggling of .lst
     mode now also available (`C-F10'); killing all buffers associated
     with .sas program no longer bound to `C-F10' since its a bit
     overzealous.

   * S-Plus 7 for Windows is now recognized.

   * ESS[S] (incl. R): in auto-fill mode, strings are not wrapped
     anymore.

   * ESS[S] (incl. R): font-lock now correctly differs between R and S,
     e.g., for "_"; both now fontify warning(.) and S does terminate()
     additionally.

   * Support for `bell' aka `beep' aka `ding' aka `alarm' in all
     inferior modes: When \a is output "to the the console" at the
     beginning of a line, the bell is rung.

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.5:
   * ESS[R]: `C-c C-q' or `Quit S' from the menu now should work (again
     and less klunkily) and do not append `-exited' to the buffer name.
     Further, the behavior of `(ess-cleanup)', called from ess-quit,
     now depends on the new customizable variable
     `ess-S-quit-kill-buffers-p' which defaults to `nil'.
     Consequently, the question _"Delete all buffers associated with
     ..?"_ will not be asked anymore by default.

   * ESS[SAS] - ess-ebcdic-to-ascii-search-and-replace will now work
     with the `recode' application as well which is available on many
     platforms

   * ESS[S] (incl. R): Name completion for slots of S4 objects now
     works!

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.4:
   * The documentation now includes an overview of how to use the emacs
     TAGS facility for S functions.  (The distribution also used to
     contain a directory `etc/other/Tags' where a ~1990 version of
     `etags.c' was distributed; this is no longer relevant and so has
     been deleted.)

   * ESS[SAS] - When you are working with EBCDIC files on an ASCII
     platform, .log NOTEs may display as gibberish since the EBCDIC
     characters are not converted to ASCII prior to their display.  So,
     the function ess-ebcdic-to-ascii-search-and-replace is provided for
     convenience and is bound to `C-F11'.  This function requires the
     `dd' command (only available on unix or unix-like platforms).

   * ESS: Completion of object names is now always done dynamically
     rather than allowing the option of using a pre-computed database
     (by `ess-create-object-name-db') since modern computers seem fast
     enough for dynamic completion.  (We expect few users, if any, have
     been using the pre-computed database method.)

   * ESS: object completion in iESS buffers running on Windows was very
     slow (for GNU Emacs, but not XEmacs) and has now been fixed.
     Further, it was more or less broken for all versions of S-plus 6.x,
     and has been fixed to work everywhere but with the Windows' GUI of
     S-plus.  The list of objects now shows unique names also when an
     object appears more than once in the search path.

   * ESS[R]: Completion of object names now also includes those
     starting with ".".

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.3:
   * ESS: When new inferior ESS processes are created, by default they
     will replace the current buffer (this restores behavior from pre
     5.2.0). If you wish new ESS processes to start in another window
     of the current frame, set inferior-ess-same-window to nil.

   * New variables inferior-Splus-args and inferior-R-args provide a
     way to pass command line arguments to starting S and R processes.

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.2:
   * bug-fixes for 5.2.1 (require 'executable), html docs, etc.

   * ess-lisp-directory/../doc/info added to Info-directory-list if
     ess-info not found by info

   * ESS[R]: If you have other versions of R on your exec-path, such as
     "R-1.8.1" with Unix or "rw1081" with Windows, ESS will find them
     and create appropriate functions, such as `M-x R-1.8.1' or `M-x
     rw1081', for calling them.  By default only Unix programs
     beginning "R-1" and "R-2" and Windows programs parallel to the
     version of R in your exec-path will be found, but see
     ess-r-versions and ess-rterm-versions for ways to find other
     versions of R.

   * ESS[R]: Other versions of R, such as "R-1.8.1" on Unix and
     "rw1081" on Windows, are added to the "ESS / Start Process /
     Other" menu.

   * ESS[S]: If you have other versions of S-Plus on your Windows
     computer, such as S-Plus 6.1 or S-Plus 4.5, ESS will find them and
     create appropriate functions, such as `M-x splus61', for calling
     the console version (Sqpe) inside an emacs buffer.  By default only
     programs installed in the default location will be found, but see
     ess-SHOME-versions for ways to find other versions of S-Plus.

   * ESS[S]: Other versions of Sqpe on Windows, such as "splus61", are
     added to the "ESS / Start Process / Other" menu.

   * ESS[R]: (bug fix) ess-quit (bound to `C-c C-q') should now quit the
     inferior R process, when issued from either the inferior buffer,
     or from a .R buffer.

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.1:
   * ESS[S] (R and S-plus): now have toolbar support with icons to
     evaluate code in the inferior process or to switch there.  This
     code is experimental and likely to change as XEmacs/Emacs issues
     get resolved. The toolbar should be enabled if your Emacs displays
     images, but can be disabled with the variable ess-use-toolbar.
     Thanks to David Smith from Insightful for the S-plus logo.

   * ESS[SAS]: ess-sas-graph-view (`F12') enhanced; you can specify
     external file viewers for each graphics file type via the alist
     ess-sas-graph-view-viewer-alist; also .jpg/.gif are now handled by
     image-mode on XEmacs, if available, otherwise by graphics
     primitives as before

   Changes/New Features in 5.2.0:
   * ESS[BUGS]:  new info documentation!  now supports interactive
     processing thanks to Aki Vehtari (mailto:Aki.Vehtari@hut.fi); new
     architecture-independent unix support as well as support for BUGS
     v. 0.5

   * ESS[SAS]:  convert .log to .sas with ess-sas-transcript; info
     documentation improved; Local Variable bug fixes; SAS/IML
     statements/functions now highlighted; files edited remotely by
     ange-ftp/EFS/tramp are recognized and pressing SUBMIT opens a
     buffer on the remote host via the local variable
     ess-sas-shell-buffer-remote-init which defaults to "ssh"; changed
     the definition of the variable ess-sas-edit-keys-toggle to boolean
     rather than 0/1; added the function ess-electric-run-semicolon
     which automatically reverse indents lines containing only "run;";
     `C-F1' creates MS RTF portrait from the current buffer; `C-F2'
     creates MS RTF landscape from the current buffer; `C-F9' opens a
     SAS DATASET with PROC INSIGHT rather than PROC FSVIEW; "inferior"
     aliases for SAS batch:  `C-c C-r' for submit region, `C-c C-b' for
     submit buffer, `C-c C-x' for goto .log; `C-c C-y' for goto .lst

   * ESS[S]: Pressing underscore ("_") once inserts " <- " (as before);
     pressing underscore twice inserts a literal underscore.  To stop
     this smart behaviour, add "(ess-toggle-underscore nil)" to your
     .emacs after ess-site has been loaded;
     ess-dump-filename-template-proto (new name!) now can be customized
     successfully (for S language dialects); Support for Imenu has been
     improved; set ess-imenu-use-S to non-nil to get an "Imenu-S" item
     on your menubar; ess-help: Now using nice underlines (instead of
     `nuke-* ^H_')

   * ESS[R]:  After (require 'essa-r), `M-x ess-r-var' allows to load
     numbers from any Emacs buffer into an existing *R* process; `M-x
     ess-rdired' gives a "directory editor" of R objects; fixed
     ess-retr-lastvalue-command, i.e. .Last.value bug (thanks to David
     Brahm)

   * ESS: Support for creating new window frames has been added to ESS.
     Inferior ESS processes can be created in dedicated frames by
     setting inferior-ess-own-frame to t.  ESS help buffers can also
     open in new frames; see the documentation for ess-help-own-frame
     for details.  (Thanks to Kevin Rodgers for contributing code.)

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.24:
   * The version number is now correct even inside ESS/Emacs

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.23:
   * Minor more Makefile clean up.

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.22:
   * Besides info documentation, PDF and HTML documentation are also
     provided (instead of built using "make") and available on the web
     as well; see ESS web page (http://ess.r-project.org/) and StatLib
     (http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/general/ESS/doc)

   * Now that info documentation is available, the README.* files are
     no longer supported.  However, they are still distributed for what
     it's worth.

   * ESS is now an XEmacs package!  See XEmacs Installation HOWTO
     (http://www.xemacs.org/Install/index.html) for details
     (specifically, items 10-15).

   * ESS[SAS]: more user-friendly enhancements for remote SAS batch
     jobs with Kermit file transfers (LOG and OUTPUT function key
     features now supported).  Multiple shells now supported so you can
     run SAS on different computers from different buffers by setting
     the buffer-local variable ess-sas-shell-buffer to unique buffer
     names.

   * Major re-vamping of Makefile/Makeconf.

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.21:
   * ESS[SAS]: info documentation now available!, see ESS->Help for
     SAS; `F12' opens GSASFILE nearest point for viewing either within
     emacs, when available, or via an external viewer; more syntax
     highlighting keywords; more enhancements for remote SAS batch jobs
     with Kermit; new framework for remote SAS interactive jobs, see
     ess-remote

   * ESS[S]: info documentation now available!, see ESS->Help for the S
     family

   * Makefile: tag now independent of rel; info files made by
     doc/Makefile and installed in new info sub-directory

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.20:
   * New `options()$STERM' in the S dialects (S, S-Plus, R).  The S
     program can determine the environment in which it is currently
     running.  ESS sets the option to `iESS' or `ddeESS' when it starts
     an S language process.  We recommend other specific values for S
     language processes that ESS does not start.

   * New `ess-mouse-me' function, assigned to S-mouse-3 by default.
     User may click on a word or region and then choose from the menu
     to display the item, or a summary, or a plot, etc.  This feature
     is still under development.

   * GNU Emacs 21.1 is now supported (fixed for S dialects, SAS & BUGS),
     (some from Stephen Eglen).

   * XEmacs 21.x is now supported (fixed w32-using-nt bug)

   * XEmacs on Win (NT) is better supported.

   * Workaround for bug in Sqpe+6 (S-PLUS 6 for Win).

   * should now work even when imenu is not available (for old
     XEmacsen).

   * ESS[SAS]: XEmacs-Imenu fix; `C-TAB' is globalized along with your
     function-key definitions, if specified; you can specify your SAS
     library definitions outside of autoexec.sas for ess-sas-data-view
     with SAS code placed in the variable ess-sas-data-view-libname,
     also the dataset name is defaulted to the nearest permanent dataset
     to point; Speedbar support now works for permanent datasets, please
     ignore first./last.; new font-locking is now the default with more
     improvements for font-locking PROCs, macro statements, * ; and %* ;
     comments; you can toggle sas-log-mode with `F10' which will
     font-lock your .log (if it isn't too big); submit remote .sas
     files accessed with ange-ftp, EFS or Tramp (Kermit is
     experimental) by setting ess-sas-submit-method to 'sh;
     ess-sas-submit-command and ess-sas-submit-command-options are
     buffer-local so you can have local file variable sections at the
     end of your .sas files to request different executables or specify
     special options and the local file variables are re-read at submit
     instead of only at file open so that if you make a change it is
     picked up immediately;

   * ESS[BUGS]: font-lock with `in' fixed.

   * for STATA: font-lock bug fixed.

   * for Rd mode: `C-c C-v' and `switch-process' in menu.  further,
     `C-c C-f' prefix (Rd-font) for inserting or surrounding a word by
     things such as \code{.}, \code{\link{.}}, \emph{.} etc.

   * new functions (ess-directory-function) and (ess-narrow-to-defun)
     ess-directory <-> default-directory logic (Jeff Mincy).

   * Re-organized Makefile and fixed a few bugs.

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.19:
   * S+6 now supported (Tony Rossini (Unix) and Rich Heiberger
     (Windows))

   * New BUGS support through ESS[BUGS] mode (Rodney Sparapani)
     Templates assist you in writing .bug and .cmd code (.cmd and .log
     are replaced by .bmd and .bog to avoid emacs extension collisions).
     Substitution" parameters facilitate "automagic" generation of
     data...in" and "init...in" filenames, "const N=" from your data
     file and "monitor()/stats()" commands.  Activated by pressing
     `F12'.

   * Fixes for `ess-smart-underscore' SAS breakage (Rich Heiberger)

   * You can change between PC and Unix, local and global SAS
     function-key definitions interactively (Rich Heiberger)

   * `C-Submit' a highlighted region to SAS batch (Rodney Sparapani)

   * New and improved SAS syntax highlighting (Rodney Sparapani) To get
     the new functionality, set ess-sas-run-make-regexp to nil.  Also
     available in .log files via `F10'.

   * Open a permanent SAS dataset for viewing via `F9' (Rodney
     Sparapani) You must have the library defined in autoexec.sas for
     it to work.

   * User-friendly defaults for `sas-program',
     `ess-sas-batch-pre-command' and `ess-sas-batch-post-command' as
     well Customize support for these and other ESS[SAS] variables
     (Rodney Sparapani)

   * `ess-sas-suffix-2' now defaults to .dat via `F11' (Rodney
     Sparapani)

   * Emacs/XEmacs, Unix/Windows issues collectively handled in
     ess-emcs.el

   * defadvice solves problem of missing *ESS* (thanks to Jeff Mincy)

   * Improved manual a bit by including things that were only in
     `README'.

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.18:
   * New `ess-smart-underscore' function, now assigned to "_" by
     default.  Inserts `ess-S-assign' (customizable " <- "), unless
     inside string and comments where plain "_" is used instead. (MM)

   * Fixes for longstanding interactive SAS breakage (RMH)

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.17:
   * Documentation for Windows Installation (Rich Heiberger)

   * removal of ess-vars, finalization of customize support (in the
     sense that there is no more use of ess-vars, but that we need to
     fix ess-cust) (AJ Rossini)

   * Many small (and large) fixes/contributions (MMaechler)

   * addition of the "S-equal" variable and provide `M-x
     ess-add-MM-keys' a way to remap "_" to `ess-S-assign', typically "
     <- ", but customizable. (MMaechler)

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.16:
   * BUG FIXES

   * Better SAS support

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.15:
   * BUG FIXES

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.14:
   * Yet more fixes to SAS mode, (Rich Heiberger and Rodney Sparapani)

   * Customize support (for most Emacsen which support it) (AJRossini)

   * ARC and ViSta support out of the box, and fixes for XLispStat
     (AJRossini)

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.13:
   * Version numbering finally all depending on the ./VERSION file,
     thanks to Martin Maechler.

   * Yet more fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rich Heiberger.

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.12:
   * Splus 5.1 stabilized, thanks to Martin Maechler, Bill Venables,
     Chuck Taylor, and others.

   * More fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rodney Sparapani and Rich
     Heiberger.

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.11:
   * More fixes to Stata mode, thanks to Brendan Halpin
     (mailto:brendan@essex.ac.uk).

   * fixed bugs in ESS-elsewhere, thanks to many testers

   * README.SPLUS4WIN has DETAILED instructions for S-PLUS 2000, thanks
     to David Brahm (mailto:brahm@alum.mit.edu).

   * Fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rodney Sparapani

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.10:
   * More fixes to Stata mode

   * primitive generic version of ESS-elsewhere

   * Small fixes to SAS/Stata.

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.9:
   * Stata mode works

   * Literate Data Analysis using Noweb works

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.8:
   * Bug fixes

   * R documentation mode defaults changed

   Changes/New Features in 5.1.2:
   * able to use inferior iESS mode to communicate directly with a
     running S-Plus 4.x process using the Microsoft DDE protocol.  We
     use the familiar (from Unix ESS) `C-c C-n' and related key
     sequences to send lines from the S-mode file to the inferior S
     process.  We continue to edit S input files in ESS[S] mode and
     transcripts of previous S sessions in ESS Transcript mode.  All
     three modes know the S language, syntax, and indentation patterns
     and provide the syntactic highlighting that eases the programming
     tasks.

1.4 Current Features
====================

   * Languages Supported:
        * S family (S 3/4, S-PLUS 3.x/4.x/5.x/6.x/7.x, and R)

        * SAS

        * BUGS

        * Stata

        * XLispStat including Arc and ViSta

   * Editing source code (S family, SAS, BUGS, XLispStat)
        * Syntactic indentation and highlighting of source code

        * Partial evaluation of code

        * Loading and error-checking of code

        * Source code revision maintenance

        * Batch execution (SAS, BUGS)

        * Use of imenu to provide links to appropriate functions

   * Interacting with the process (S family, SAS, XLispStat)
        * Command-line editing

        * Searchable Command history

        * Command-line completion of S family object names and file
          names

        * Quick access to object lists and search lists

        * Transcript recording

        * Interface to the help system

   * Transcript manipulation (S family, XLispStat)
        * Recording and saving transcript files

        * Manipulating and editing saved transcripts

        * Re-evaluating commands from transcript files

   * Help File Editing (R)
        * Syntactic indentation and highlighting of source code.

        * Sending Examples to running ESS process.

        * Previewing

1.5 Stability
=============

Versions 5.2.x are meant to be release-quality versions.  While some
new features are being introduced, we are cleaning up and improving the
interface.  We know about some remaining documentation inconsistencies.
Patches or suggested fixes with bug reports are much appreciated!

1.6 Requirements
================

ESS has been tested with

   * R >=0.49

   * S-PLUS 3.3-4, 4.5, 5.0-1, 6.0-2, 7.0, 2000

   * S4

   * SAS >=6.12

   * BUGS 0.5, 0.603

   * Stata >=6.0

   * XLispStat >=3.50

   on the following platforms

   * Linux (all)

   * Solaris/SunOS (all)

   * Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP (R, SPLUS 4.5/6.0-2/7.0/2000,
     SAS and BUGS)

   * Apple Mac OS (SAS for OS 9 and R for OS X)

   with the following versions of emacs

   * GNU Emacs 20.3-7, 21.1, 21.3-4, 22.0.50-pretesting

   * XEmacs 21.0, 21.1.13-14, 21.4.0-8, 21.4.9-13(1), 21.4.14-15,
     21.4.17-18, 21.5.23

   ---------- Footnotes ----------

   (1) require the files.el patch to revert-buffer for the Local
Variables updating problem

1.7 Getting the Latest Version
==============================

The latest released version of ESS is always available on the web at:
ESS web page (http://ess.r-project.org) or StatLib
(http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/general/ESS/)

   The latest development version of ESS is available via
`https://svn.R-project.org/ESS/', the ESS Subversion repository.  If
you have a Subversion client (see `http://subversion.tigris.org/'), you
can download the sources using:
     % svn checkout https://svn.r-project.org/ESS/trunk PATH
   which will put the ESS files into directory PATH.  Later, within
that directory, `svn update' will bring that directory up to date.
Windows-based tools such as TortoiseSVN are also available for
downloading the files.  Alternatively, you can browse the sources with a
web browser at: ESS SVN site (https://svn.r-project.org/ESS/trunk).
However, please use a subversion client instead to minimize the load
when retrieving.

   If you remove other versions of ESS from your emacs load-path, you
can then use the development version by adding the following to .emacs:

     (load "/path/to/ess-svn/lisp/ess-site.el")

   Note that https is required, and that the SSL certificate for the
Subversion server of the R project is

     Certificate information:
      - Hostname: svn.r-project.org
      - Valid: from Jul 16 08:10:01 2004 GMT until Jul 14 08:10:01 2014 GMT
      - Issuer: Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, CH
      - Fingerprint: c9:5d:eb:f9:f2:56:d1:04:ba:44:61:f8:64:6b:d9:33:3f:93:6e:ad

(currently, there is no "trusted certificate").  You can accept this
certificate permanently and will not be asked about it anymore.

1.8 Installation (from tar file)
================================

We now discuss installation, which might happen under Unix or Microsoft
Windows.  First, we discuss Unix installation.  *Note Unix
installation::.

   For Microsoft Windows Installation please skip to the *Note
Microsoft Windows installation::.

1.9 Unix installation
=====================

  1. `cd' to a directory where you want to install ESS, creating it if
     necessary.  This directory will be referred to below as `ESSDIR'.

  2. Retrieve the latest version from ESS downloads area
     (http://ess.r-project.org/downloads/ess) to `ESSDIR'.

  3. Decompress/unarchive the files from the disribution.
          Either, `gunzip < ess-VERSION.tar.gz | tar xf -',
          or using GNU tar, `tar zxf ess-VERSION.tar.gz'.

     The `tar' command will create the subdirectory `ess-VERSION' and
     install the files there.

  4. Edit the file `ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site.el' as explained
     in the comments section of that file.

  5.  Add the line
          (load "ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site")
     to your user or system installation file (GNU Emacs uses
     `$HOME/.emacs' and XEmacs uses `$HOME/.xemacs/init.el' for the
     user initialization file.  GNU Emacs uses `default.el' or
     `site-init.el' and XEmacs uses `site-start.el' for the system
     installation file).

     Alternatively, if `ess-site.el' is in your current `load-path',
     then:
          (require 'ess-site)
     to configure emacs for ESS.

  6. That's it!  If you are installing just a local copy of ESS for
     yourself, ESS is now ready to be used.  (The remaining step below
     is for advanced installation.)  To edit statistical programs, load
     the files with the requiste extensions (`.sas' for SAS, `.S' for
     S-PLUS, `.R' for R, and `.lsp' for XLispStat).  To start a
     statistical process within emacs, such as R, type `M-x R'.

  7. (OPTIONAL) READ THIS ITEM THOROUGHLY BEFORE STARTING:

     If you want to place the compiled files in other locations edit the
     `LISPDIR', `INFODIR' and `ETCDIR' entries in Section 1 of
     `Makeconf' in the `ESSDIR/ess-VERSION' directory (if you are using
     XEmacs, then see the XEmacs subsection in Section 1 of `Makeconf').

     You can compile those files by:
          make all

     When that completes successfully, install the compiled files:
          make install

     _Note:_ ESS is no longer available as an XEmacs package.  However,
     ESS will work best if the XEmacs sumo tarball (all XEmacs packages
     combined) has been installed.  For more information on installing
     XEmacs packages, see Quickstart Package Guide
     (http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/packageGuide.html).


1.10 Microsoft Windows installation
===================================

For Microsoft Windows installation, please follow the next steps: (see
separate instructions above for UNIX *Note Unix installation::.

  1. `cd' to a directory where you keep emacs lisp files, or create a
     new directory (for example, `c:\emacs\') to hold the distribution.
     This directory will be referred to below as "the ESS distribution
     directory".

  2. Retrieve the latest zip file (`ess-VERSION.zip') from ESS
     downloads area (http://ess.r-project.org/downloads/ess) and store
     it in the ESS distribution directory.  Be aware that http browsers
     on Windows frequently change the "." and "-" characters in
     filenames to other punctuation.  Please change the names back to
     their original form.

  3. Extract all the files from `ess-VERSION.zip' into the ESS
     distribution directory.  In Windows Explorer, you can unpack the
     archive by double clicking on the folder; you should then see a
     new folder called `ess-VERSION'.  Drag that folder into your ESS
     distribution directory.

  4. Add the line
          (load "C:/emacs/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site")
     to your emacs initialization file.  (GNU Emacs uses the filename
     `~/.emacs' and XEmacs uses the filename `~/.xemacs/init.el' for
     the initialization file.  The tilde is recognised by emacs as your
     HOME directory, i.e. the value of your HOME environment variable.)
     Replace `VERSION' above with the version number of ESS.  Remember
     to use forwardslashes `/' rather than `\\' in your filename.

     After saving your initialization file, ESS is now installed.
     Start a new emacs and you should be ready to use ESS.  For
     example, to edit statistical programs, load the files with the
     requisite extensions (".sas" for SAS, ".S" or "s" or "q" or "Q"
     for S-PLUS, ".r" or ".R" for R, and ".lsp" for XLispStat).  One
     further step is needed if you wish to run statistical processes,
     see below.

  5. To run statistical processes under ESS, Windows users will need to
     make sure that the directories for the software they will be using
     is in the PATH environment variable.  On Windows 9x, add lines
     similar to the following to your `c:\autoexec.bat' file:
          path=%PATH%;c:\progra~1\insightful\splus70\cmd
     On Windows NT/2000/XP, add the directories to the PATH using the
     `My Computer/Control Panel/System/Advanced/Environment Variables'
     menu.  Note that the directory containing the program is added to
     the PATH, not the program itself.  One such line is needed for
     each software program.  Be sure to use the abbreviation `progra~1'
     and not the long version with embedded blanks.  Use backslashes
     "\".

     An alternative, for R users, is that rather than adjusting the PATH
     variable, you can add the following to your emacs initialization
     file (and restart emacs):
          (setq inferior-R-program-name "C:/progra~1/R/R-2.2.1/bin/Rterm.exe")
     This assumes that you have installed R-2.2.1 in the default
     location.  Change the path otherwise to point to other locations.

     To start the S-PLUS [67].x GUI from ESS under emacs:
       1. If you use Cygwin bash as your primary shell, then
               M-x S
               (or `M-x S+6').

       2. If you use the MSDOS prompt window as your primary shell, then
               M-x S+6-msdos
          You will then be asked for a pathname ("S starting data
     directory?"), from which to start the process.  The prompt will
     propose your current directory as the default.  ESS will start the
     S-PLUS GUI.  There will be slight delay during which emacs is
     temporarily frozen.  ESS will arrange for communication with the
     S-PLUS GUI using the DDE protocol.  Send lines or regions from the
     emacs buffer containing your S program (for example, `myfile.s')
     to the S-PLUS Commands Window with the `C-c C-n' or `C-c C-r' keys.
     (If you are still using S-PLUS 4.x or 2000,\ then use `M-x S+4' or
     `M-x S+4-msdos'.)

     To start an S-PLUS [67].x session inside an emacs buffer--and
     without the S-PLUS GUI:
          M-x Sqpe
          (or `M-x Sqpe+6').
     This works with both the bash and msdos shells.  You will then be
     asked for a pathname ("S starting data directory?"), from which to
     start the process.  The prompt will propose your current directory
     as the default.  You get Unix-like behavior, in particular the
     entire transcript is available for emacs-style search commands.
     Send lines or regions from the emacs buffer containing your S
     program (for example, `myfile.s') to the *S+6* buffer with the
     `C-c C-n' or `C-c C-r' keys.  Interactive graphics are available
     with Sqpe by using the java library supplied with S-PLUS 6.1 and
     newer releases.  Enter the commands:
          library(winjava)
          java.graph()
     Graphs can be saved from the `java.graph' device in several
     formats, but not PostScript.   If you need a PostScript file you
     will need to open a separate `postscript' device.  (If you are
     still using S-PLUS 4.x or 2000, then use `M-x Sqpe+4'.)

     To connect to an already running S-PLUS GUI (started, for example,
     from the S-PLUS icon):
          M-x S+6-existing
     or
          M-x S+6-msdos-existing
     You will then be asked for a pathname ("S starting data
     directory?"), from which to start the process.  The prompt will
     propose your current directory as the default.  ESS will arrange
     for communication with the already running S-PLUS GUI using the
     DDE protocol.  Send lines or regions from the emacs buffer
     containing your S program (for example, `myfile.s') to the S-PLUS
     Commands Window with the `C-c C-n' or `C-c C-r' keys.  (If you are
     still using S-PLUS 4.x or 2000,  then use `M-x S+4-existing' or
     `M-x S+4-msdos-existing'.)

     If you wish to run R, you can start it with:
          M-x R

     XLispStat can not currently be run with
          M-x XLS
     Hopefully, this will change.  However, you can still edit with
     emacs, and cut and paste the results into the XLispStat *Listener*
     Window under Microsoft Windows.

  6. That's it!


1.11 Reporting Bugs
===================

Please send bug reports, suggestions etc. to
<ESS-bugs@stat.math.ethz.ch>

   The easiest way to do this is within Emacs by typing

   `M-x ess-submit-bug-report'

   This also gives the maintainers valuable information about your
installation which may help us to identify or even fix the bug.

   If Emacs reports an error, backtraces can help us debug the problem.
Type "M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET".  Then run the
command that causes the error and you should see a *Backtrace* buffer
containing debug information; send us that buffer.

   Note that comments, suggestions, words of praise and large cash
donations are also more than welcome.

1.12 Mailing Lists
==================

There is a mailing list for discussions and announcements relating to
ESS.  Join the list by sending an e-mail with "subscribe ess-help" (or
"help") in the body to <ess-help-request@stat.math.ethz.ch>;
contributions to the list may be mailed to
<ess-help@stat.math.ethz.ch>.  Rest assured, this is a fairly
low-volume mailing list.

   The purposes of the mailing list include

   *  helping users of ESS to get along with it.

   *  discussing aspects of using ESS on Emacs and XEmacs.

   *  suggestions for improvements.

   *  announcements of new releases of ESS.

   *  posting small patches to ESS.

1.13 Authors
============

   * A.J. Rossini (mailto:blindglobe@gmail.com)

   * Richard M. Heiberger (mailto:rmh@temple.edu)

   * Kurt Hornik (mailto:Kurt.Hornik@R-project.org)

   * Martin Maechler (mailto:maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch)

   * Rodney A. Sparapani (mailto:rsparapa@mcw.edu)

   * Stephen Eglen (mailto:stephen@gnu.org)