Your message dated Wed, 9 Jun 2010 19:32:18 -0500
with message-id <[email protected]>
and subject line Bug#585159: r-base-core: search requires a web server
has caused the Debian Bug report #585159,
regarding r-base-core: search requires a web server
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--- Begin Message ---
Package: r-base-core
Version: 2.10.1-2
Severity: wishlist
Hi,
currently the search engine included in the documentation requires a web
browser to be installed. This is far less than convenient on a
workstation.
Would it be possible to include indices in another format? For example
generating .devhelp2 files is often possible with a bit of awk hackery,
and it allows to browse the documents and search in them using devhelp.
It would be nice to have this - or a similar solution - in the R
packages.
Thanks for your work,
--
.''`. Josselin Mouette
: :' :
`. `' “If you eat pasta without sauce, it is nothing
`- short of communism.” -- Marie
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
On 9 June 2010 at 19:47, Josselin Mouette wrote:
| Le mercredi 09 juin 2010 à 12:25 -0500, Dirk Eddelbuettel a écrit :
| > | currently the search engine included in the documentation requires a web
| > | browser to be installed. This is far less than convenient on a
| > | workstation.
| >
| > There are alternatives. I have been using R for close to many years and I
| > just don't use that search engine. I use help,search(foo) at the prompt or
| > the ?, ??, ??? shortcuts for its variants.
|
| Indeed I know that, and it doesn’t bother me personally. However I have
| complaints from some of our users who prefer to search in GUIs.
Yet don't want a browser? Odd comination, that... Or what about providing
the search from a central server?
| > But anyway, help does not require a webserver. R now embeds one. This is
all
| > documented, try
| >
| > > help(help)
|
| I’ll have a closer look, thanks for the hint. This will hopefully be
| enough.
|
| My request can stand since I would still find it useful, but the
| solution you provided makes it less important.
|
| > | Would it be possible to include indices in another format? For example
| > | generating .devhelp2 files is often possible with a bit of awk hackery,
| > | and it allows to browse the documents and search in them using devhelp.
| >
| > What is .devhelp2? R supports (again, see help(help))
| >
| > help_type: character string: the type of help required. Possible
| > values are ‘"text"’, ‘"html"’, ‘"postscript"’, ‘"ps"’ and
| > ‘"pdf"’. Case is ignored, and partial matching is allowed.
| >
| > Does that help?
|
| devhelp is a documentation browser. It can show and search in any HTML
| documentation, provided there are indices in the devhelp format (it is a
| simple XML file). For example Python provides such indices, and devhelp
| is by far the most convenient way of browsing the Python documentation.
| The index file is necessary to be able to search in function names.
Ack. May bne worth a question to the r-devel list...
| > I try hard to "just" provide an excellent package in the sense that I use
all
| > good hooks provided by upstream. I also try not make Debian's R
"different".
|
| Sure. I don’t think there’s anything Debian-specific here.
|
| > If I read your request correctly, then there is no real issue. R serves its
| > html help pages internally (no server needed) and can (as always) convert
| > help into other formats (but now does that with R code rather than external
| > Perl scripts).
| >
| > So it that sense this is purely an upstream wishlist bug and I so I'd like
to
| > close this here. Could you possibly argue your case on r-devel instead?
|
| I’m not very much into R myself. Is there an upstream bug-tracker?
https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla3/index.cgi
Not much beloved, and supposedly to be replaced soon but I am a little short
on details.
--
Regards, Dirk
--- End Message ---
