[ESS] Interactive SAS mode hangs

[Sparapani, Rodney]

> 
> Dear Rodney et al,
> 
> I'm still chasing down a problem with a new ESS install -- namely, when I am in M-x SAS mode, running C-c C-p on
> something as simple as a data step hangs the system. Setting the debug flag to t and trying again
> unfortunately does not produce any informative errors. M-x ess-sas-interactive does run code
> properly, although it won't allow me to view the .log or .lst files as I work, the way I'm accustomed to
> doing. (That is, it doesn't open buffers automatically the way M-x SAS does, and if I open the relevant
> files in new buffers, I only see a static version of each, not a version that updates as I step through the code.)
> 
> The last time I wrote to you, a few weeks ago, the suggestion (echoed below) was that version
> incompatibility between ESS and Emacs might explain my problem (or at least be a thing to rule out). I
> passed this on to our tech support team and it spiraled into upgrading to a new version of Red Hat (7.0);
> we've now done that, and are on GNU Emacs 24.3.1 and ESS 15.03, which I think are both reasonably recent
> versions, respectively. However the hanging behavior is still there.
> 
> Do you have any advice on what I/we should try next?
> 
> Erin

Hi Erin:

Wow, you upgraded the whole machine!  I'm impressed.  

You are now running basically the same setup I have used successfully.
This definitely should work.  When it hangs, did you try C-c C-c?
There are other interrupts that you can send from the Signals menu,
but usually Break (C-c C-c) is what you want for a hang.

Also, look at the SAS shell script that ESS uses.  It can be found
in PREFIX/share/emacs/etc/ess/ess-sas-sh-command  It should have
+rx privileges for you.  You can test it from the command line...
$ PREFIX/share/emacs/etc/ess/ess-sas-sh-command /dev/stdout /dev/stderr -stdio -noovp

Rodney