[ESS] Running gdb under emacs 23.1 and attaching to an ess-based R process

[Douglas Bates]

In the past I had a wonderfully effective way of getting at compiled
code in an R package with gdb.  I would start R with ESS (M-x R) and
load the package.  Then I would start gdb on the binary (M-x gdb <RET>
/usr/lib/R/bin/exec/R), find the process number of the R process (M-!
pgrep R) and attach gdb to that already-running process.  I would
interrupt R, set breakpoints and then send the sig 0 signal.

Now I am running emacs 23.1 (which, for some reason, is still called
emacs-snapshot in Ubuntu) with enhanced support for gdb.  M-x gdb ends
up opening multiple windows and I can't get things straightened out to
have the input and output from the attached process associated with
the *R* buffer.

Has anyone been able to run the gdb/R combination with emacs support?
My problem is that I am so accustomed to the emacs/ess key sequences
that I feel crippled when trying to run R in any other environment :-)