Problem installing ESS - I don't understand the instructions

[PBK Research]

Hello
 
I have sent this query twice to 'ess-help-request@...', as
recommended in the ESS documentation, and each time it has been bounced. I
don't know whether this is the right place for it; if not, could someone
please tell me where to ask.
 
I am a complete beginner with Emacs and ESS - I am installing it just
because it is recommended in the R help files. I have just installed GNU
Emacs version 23.1 today, and I am trying to install ESS 5.4 on top of it.
Emacs seems to start OK, but I get lost trying to follow the installation
for ESS.

My operating system is MS Windows XP with SP2. I have downloaded the ESS zip
file ess-5.4.zip and unpacked it into the directory c:\Program
files\Emacs\emacs\emacs-23.1\site-lisp. The next step of the instructions
for Windows installation reads:

2. Add the line

(require 'ess-site)

to `~/.emacs' and restart Emacs.

My problem is that I don't know what `~/.emacs' refers to. I have searched
the whole of my hard disk for a file with the extension .emacs, or for any
file containing the text 'emacs', without success. The fact that `~/.emacs'
includes the slash, rather than the backslash, makes me wonder whether this
instruction belongs in the Unix installation instructions (where exactly the
same words are found) and there should be something different for Windows.

Could you please tell me where to find `~/.emacs' on my system?

Many thanks

Peter Kenny


        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

______________________________________________
ESS-help@... mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/ess-help

[Vincent Goulet]

Peter,

Make your life easier by building on  my own work:

        http://vgoulet.act.ulaval.ca/emacs/windows

Once this is installed, ~/ (a unixism) will refer to your HOME  
directory (read the instructions in the installation wizard). As  
for .emacs, it is your personal Emacs configuration file. It does not  
exist by default, you'll have to create it. Use Emacs for this since  
Windows Explorer (or most pure WIndows applications) will not happily  
create a file with no base name, just an extension.

It's again a unixism to name configuration files starting with a dot.  
They are not shown by default in directory listings.

HTH   Vincent


Vincent Goulet, Full Professor
École d'actuariat
Université Laval, Québec
vincent.goulet@...   http://vgoulet.act.ulaval.ca

Le jeu. 1 oct. à 13:02, PBK Research a écrit :

> Hello
>
> I have sent this query twice to 'ess-help-
> request@...', as
> recommended in the ESS documentation, and each time it has been  
> bounced. I
> don't know whether this is the right place for it; if not, could  
> someone
> please tell me where to ask.
>
> I am a complete beginner with Emacs and ESS - I am installing it just
> because it is recommended in the R help files. I have just installed  
> GNU
> Emacs version 23.1 today, and I am trying to install ESS 5.4 on top  
> of it.
> Emacs seems to start OK, but I get lost trying to follow the  
> installation
> for ESS.
>
> My operating system is MS Windows XP with SP2. I have downloaded the  
> ESS zip
> file ess-5.4.zip and unpacked it into the directory c:\Program
> files\Emacs\emacs\emacs-23.1\site-lisp. The next step of the  
> instructions
> for Windows installation reads:
>
> 2. Add the line
>
> (require 'ess-site)
>
> to `~/.emacs' and restart Emacs.
>
> My problem is that I don't know what `~/.emacs' refers to. I have  
> searched
> the whole of my hard disk for a file with the extension .emacs, or  
> for any
> file containing the text 'emacs', without success. The fact that  
> `~/.emacs'
> includes the slash, rather than the backslash, makes me wonder  
> whether this
> instruction belongs in the Unix installation instructions (where  
> exactly the
> same words are found) and there should be something different for  
> Windows.
>
> Could you please tell me where to find `~/.emacs' on my system?
>
> Many thanks
>
> Peter Kenny
>
>
> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> ESS-help@... mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/ess-help

______________________________________________
ESS-help@... mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/ess-help

[rsparapa]

PBK Research wrote:

> 2. Add the line
>
> (require 'ess-site)
>
> to `~/.emacs' and restart Emacs.
>
> My problem is that I don't know what `~/.emacs' refers to. I have searched
> the whole of my hard disk for a file with the extension .emacs, or for any
> file containing the text 'emacs', without success. The fact that `~/.emacs'
> includes the slash, rather than the backslash, makes me wonder whether this
> instruction belongs in the Unix installation instructions (where exactly the
> same words are found) and there should be something different for Windows.
>
> Could you please tell me where to find `~/.emacs' on my system?
>
> Many thanks
>
> Peter Kenny
>

Hi Peter:

The instructions assume that the user is familiar with Emacs or XEmacs.
When referring to either, I write emacs.  I don't expect many non-emacs
users to decide to install ESS on a whim.  In emacs, when you open the
file ~/.emacs it opens/creates this file in your HOME directory (which
is what ~/ stands for).  HOME is defined by the HOME environment
variable on UNIX.  On Windows, it defaults to "c:/Documents and
Settings/%USERNAME%/Application Data" for Emacs if not over-ridden by
the environment variable (XEmacs has no default and requires the
environment variable to be set and the file is ~/.xemacs/init.el).
Therefore, the forward slash has nothing to do with Windows vs. UNIX per
se; rather it is an emacs-ism.  Using backslashes as the directory
separator character in emacs, will work in many circumstances, but they
may fail in others so they should be avoided on Windows.

Rodney
--
Rodney Sparapani      Center for Patient Care & Outcomes Research (PCOR)
Sr. Biostatistician              http://www.mcw.edu/pcor
4 wheels good, 2 wheels better!  Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW)
WWLD?:  What Would Lombardi Do?  Milwaukee, WI, USA

______________________________________________
ESS-help@... mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/ess-help

[PBK Research]

Hi Rodney

Many thanks for your help. After sending this query, I had a reply saying
that it had not been passed on because the moderator had to approve it. So I
carried on looking, and (from something on Vincent Goulet's site, I think) I
found that .emacs is an initialization file. So I dug into Emacs, found an
initialization page, and forced it to save the current setup. I then found
that .emacs now existed (in my personal Application Data folder), and
amended it as directed. So I now have ESS working, and am trying to find the
most convenient way to use it for my project. Problem solved, therefore, but
no doubt more to come! Still, it all helps to keep the little grey cells
busy!

Thanks again

Peter Kenny

-----Original Message-----
From: Rodney Sparapani [mailto:rsparapa@...]
Sent: 01 October 2009 22:34
To: PBK Research
Cc: ess-help@...
Subject: Re: Problem installing ESS - I don't understand the instructions

PBK Research wrote:

> 2. Add the line
>
> (require 'ess-site)
>
> to `~/.emacs' and restart Emacs.
>
> My problem is that I don't know what `~/.emacs' refers to. I have
> searched the whole of my hard disk for a file with the extension
> .emacs, or for any file containing the text 'emacs', without success. The
fact that `~/.emacs'
> includes the slash, rather than the backslash, makes me wonder whether
> this instruction belongs in the Unix installation instructions (where
> exactly the same words are found) and there should be something different
for Windows.
>
> Could you please tell me where to find `~/.emacs' on my system?
>
> Many thanks
>
> Peter Kenny
>

Hi Peter:

The instructions assume that the user is familiar with Emacs or XEmacs.
When referring to either, I write emacs.  I don't expect many non-emacs
users to decide to install ESS on a whim.  In emacs, when you open the file
~/.emacs it opens/creates this file in your HOME directory (which is what ~/
stands for).  HOME is defined by the HOME environment variable on UNIX.  On
Windows, it defaults to "c:/Documents and Settings/%USERNAME%/Application
Data" for Emacs if not over-ridden by the environment variable (XEmacs has
no default and requires the environment variable to be set and the file is
~/.xemacs/init.el).
Therefore, the forward slash has nothing to do with Windows vs. UNIX per se;
rather it is an emacs-ism.  Using backslashes as the directory separator
character in emacs, will work in many circumstances, but they may fail in
others so they should be avoided on Windows.

Rodney
--
Rodney Sparapani      Center for Patient Care & Outcomes Research (PCOR)
Sr. Biostatistician              http://www.mcw.edu/pcor
4 wheels good, 2 wheels better!  Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW)
WWLD?:  What Would Lombardi Do?  Milwaukee, WI, USA

______________________________________________
ESS-help@... mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/ess-help