On Wed, 4 Sep 2019, Sven Schreiber wrote:
Am 27.08.2019 um 21:53 schrieb Allin Cottrell:
> On Mon, 26 Aug 2019, Sven S wrote:
>
>> I've just noticed that in gretl's preferences/configurations the command
>> to start R is specified as "xterm -e R". This is a self-compiled
version
>> under Linux Mint, but I'm relatively sure that I didn't write that
>> command. Actually, on this system xterm isn't even installed. So is this
>> intended?
>
> Yes, "xterm -e R" is the factory default for interactive use of R via
> gretl.
I guess I should rephrase or clarify my question: On Windows there are
three R-related entries in gretl's preferences: to start R, the path to
R.exe, and the path to the R lib (dll). On Linux, however, the path to
the executable cannot (or need not) be set. In contrast, the paths to
ox/octave/Stata/Python/Julia must be given. Why is the path to the
executable for R not needed on Linux?
Well, the name of the R binary on Linux is just "R", and I'm
assuming that if it's installed in some weird location then either
that location is included in the user's $PATH or at least R is
symlinked into the PATH. Admittedly that assumption could
conceivably be wrong but I've never heard any complaints.
I guess one could make the same argument for octave, but not so much
for the others given versioning issues and the fact that neither Ox
nor Stata are remotely "native" on Linux.
Allin