[ESS] Xemacs+ESS problem under Windows

[John Fox]

Dear ESS list members,

Several people have reported to me a problem with the latest ESS package for
XEmacs running under Windows (and following my instructions for getting
going). After updating my own ESS via the XEmacs packages update tool, I've
been able to reproduce the problem myself and to isolate it. 

The problem doesn't seem to be in the simple init.el file that I distribute,
but rather in ess-site.el. When ess-site is loaded via (require 'ess-site),
the following error is produced: 

  Invalid read syntax: "Cannot read unreadable object"

I traced the error to the following code in ess-site.el

;; Create functions for calling older versions of R and Sqpe.
(let ( (ess-sqpe-versions-created)
       (ess-rterm-versions-created)
       (ess-r-versions-created)
       (ess-versions-created)
       )
  (if ess-microsoft-p
      (progn
   (setq ess-sqpe-versions-created
         (ess-sqpe-versions-create))   ;; use ess-SHOME-versions
   (setq ess-rterm-versions (ess-find-rterm))
   (setq ess-rterm-versions-created
         (ess-rterm-versions-create))) ;; use ess-rterm-versions
    (setq ess-r-versions-created
     (ess-r-versions-create)))     ;; use ess-r-versions

  ;; Add the new defuns, if any, to the menu.
  ;; Check that each variable exists, before adding.
  ;; e.g. ess-sqpe-versions-created will not be created on Unix.
  (setq ess-versions-created
   (ess-flatten-list
    (mapcar (lambda(x) (if (boundp x) (symbol-value x) nil))
        '(ess-r-versions-created
          ess-rterm-versions-created ess-sqpe-versions-created))))

  (when ess-versions-created
    ;; new-menu will be a list of 3-vectors, of the form:
    ;; ["R-1.8.1" R-1.8.1 t]
    (let (( new-menu (mapcar '(lambda(x) (vector x (intern x) t))
                ess-versions-created)))
    (easy-menu-add-item ess-mode-menu '("Start Process")
           (cons "Other" new-menu)))))


I'm not sure of the exact source of the error, but commenting out this
section of code (and deleting the compiled version of the file) allows
ess-site to load normally.

An interim solution would be for me to distribute the modified version of
ess-site.el, but it would of course be better to understand what's going on.

Thanks,
 John

--------------------------------
John Fox
Department of Sociology
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L8S 4M4
905-525-9140x23604
http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox