[ESS] R under gdb

[Andreas Leha]

Hi all,

there is a FAQ on cran [fn:1] addressing different techniques to debug R
with GDB from within emacs.  Two of them deal with ESS.

I have three questions about this:

1. Are these (or: Is one of those) the suggested method(s) for ESS users?

2. The (not so) easy to start method
   The first option described in the FAQ is:
   ,----
   | If you have ESS, you can do C-u M-x R RET - d SPC g d b RET to start
   | an inferior R process with arguments -d gdb. 
   `----

   Sound easy enough.  If I do that I additionally have to search for
   the buffer *R* (lets say that is its name) which is somewhere at the
   end of the buffer list, I have to type C-g and then 'run' at the GDB
   prompt.

   My question here is: Could/Should this be done by ESS somehow?  I am
   not sure but see my next question:

3. More comfort
   I haven't tried the last method of attaching the running R process to
   a running GDB session, but it seems that this would result in the most
   comfortable set up (two separate buffers for GDB and R, all ESS
   support/completion in the *R* buffer).

   My question here is:  Could this be made easy to be set up by ESS?
   Something like 'C-8 M-x R'?
   Then it would clearly supersede the 'R -d gdb' method IMO.


Regards,
Andreas


Footnotes:

[fn:1] 
http://cran.r-project.org/doc/FAQ/R-FAQ.html#Debugging-R-from-within-Emacs