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I install ESS following these directions, adding these to ~/.emacs:

(require 'package)
(add-to-list 'package-archives
             '("melpa-stable" . "https://stable.melpa.org/packages/"))
(add-to-list 'package-archives
             '("melpa" . "http://melpa.org/packages/"))
(package-initialize)

then typing M-x package-install RET ess RET, and adding this to ~/.emacs as well:

(require 'ess-site)

Now when I open an R file in Emacs, I get this message in a buffer:

Warning (flymake): Disabling backend ess-r-flymake because (error Cannot find program ’R’)
Warning (flymake): Disabling backend flymake-proc-legacy-flymake because (error Can’t find a suitable init function)
Warning (flymake): Disabling backend ess-r-flymake because (error Cannot find program ’R’)
Warning (flymake): Disabling backend flymake-proc-legacy-flymake because (error Can’t find a suitable init function)

and typing in the buffer with the R file is slower because of warnings from Flymake.

I have also set the inferior R program as in this thread:

(setq inferior-ess-r-program "R")

But the result is the same.

How can I fix this?

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  • ESS seems not to find R. Have you read an tried the comments ftom the second thread that you link to? Is R working okay from the command line?
    – andrej
    Mar 22, 2019 at 10:42
  • Yes, I read and tried those comments, which is why I added the inferior-ess-r-program command. R works OK from the command line and is at /usr/local/bin/R .
    – miguelmorin
    Mar 22, 2019 at 11:42
  • what does (executable-find "R") return? In your case it should be /usr/local/bin/R
    – andrej
    Mar 22, 2019 at 18:18
  • 1
    Sorry! Then I don't know what to do. On my system ess-r-flymake isn't called when I open an R file. Would suggest asking on the ESS github page.
    – andrej
    Mar 29, 2019 at 14:01
  • 1
    @andrej The problem has now disappeared and setting the inferior process was the answer, along with disabling legacy stuff from flymake, as I wrote here. I don't know why Emacs behaved differently then compared to now. Do you want to write an answer?
    – miguelmorin
    May 13, 2019 at 14:56

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

R executable

I confirm that flymake can now find the R executable. The line (setq inferior-ess-r-program "/usr/local/bin/R") was the problem: without the line, I (executable-find "R") returns nil and I get this warning twice:

Warning (flymake): Disabling backend flymake-proc-legacy-flymake because (error Can’t find a suitable init function)

I added that line to my ~/.emacs on March 26, so I don't understand why the changes did not take effect 4 days after, even though I turn off the computer every day.

Disabling backend flymake-proc-legacy-flymake

Now I get only this message:

Warning (flymake): Disabling backend flymake-proc-legacy-flymake because (error Can’t find a suitable init function)
Warning (flymake): Disabling backend flymake-proc-legacy-flymake because (error Can’t find a suitable init function)

I found that I could disable the legacy stuff with 

(remove-hook 'flymake-diagnostic-functions 'flymake-proc-legacy-flymake)

So, although the last one is quick-and-dirty, it works for me.

Cross-posted from Github issue.

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  • Please accept your own answer to mark this question as solved.
    – Tobias
    Jun 13, 2019 at 11:32

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