Re: [Bugs-r-devel] R2WinBUGS on Solaris

[Gorjanc G. <Gre...@bf...>]

Hi!

Sorry for jumping in so late ...

The problem seems to be the file.copy function since it tries to convert the
schools.bug into schools.txt file in a folder where user does not have permission
i.e. in /usr/local/doc/r2winbugs. The problematic code is on line 64 of bugs.R in
the R2WinBUGS package.

The WinBUGS executable only recognizes ASCII files as such if they have "txt"
extension. However, a lot of us use "bug" extension to emphasize that this a BUGS
model file. Therefore, the bugs() function tries to copy model_file_name.bug to
model_file_name.txt. Rodney, since you are having the model_file_name.bug in a place
where your user does not have permissions to write new files file copying can not be
performed.

I agree that this is not the behaviour we want. This issue has been raised due to
two facts: stringent permissions on unix like machines and Rodneys' setup - i.e. the
/usr/local/doc/r2winbugs is not writable for regular users. Perhaps, we could in such cases
copy the model.file to a working directory in order to avoid this problem. This should
work in any setting since the working directory must be writtable anyway.

I will try to implement this so that Rodney can check.

P.S. However, note the R2WinBUGS needs a write permission for the WinBUGS folder,
since there is a part of the code that reads in one of the ODC files, changes something
in relation with the burnin period and writes the file back. I am not familiar with the rational
of this. Maybe, anyone else can enlighten me/us ...

gg