Ah, I misread the example code (went straight to the line where the error was raised for fwrite). Apologies Jean-Luc.
-----Original Message----- From: Duncan Murdoch [mailto:murdoch.dun...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 4, 2017 6:39 AM To: Nathan Sosnovske <nsos...@microsoft.com>; Lipatz Jean-Luc <jean-luc.lip...@insee.fr> Cc: r-devel@r-project.org Subject: Re: [Rd] write.csv On 04/07/2017 8:46 AM, Nathan Sosnovske wrote: > This doesn't really strike me as a bug. Lots of (most?) programming languages > expect you to handle this as an error condition. If you tried the same thing > in C you would get the same error. The bug is that there is no error signalled. It looks as though the write succeeded, when it didn't. Duncan Murdoch > -----Original Message----- > From: R-devel [mailto:r-devel-boun...@r-project.org] On Behalf Of > Lipatz Jean-Luc > Sent: Tuesday, July 4, 2017 5:40 AM > To: Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.dun...@gmail.com> > Cc: r-devel@r-project.org > Subject: Re: [Rd] write.csv > > I would really like the bug fixed. At least this one, because I know people > in my institute using this function. > I understand your arguments about open source, but I also saw in this mail > list a proposal for a fix for this bug for which there were no answer from > the people who are able to include it in the distribution. It looks like if > there were interesting bugs and the other ones. > I don't understand the other arguments : the example was reproduced with a > simple USB key and you cannot state that a disk will eternally be empty > enough, specially when it has several users. > > JLL > > > -----Message d'origine----- > De : Duncan Murdoch [mailto:murdoch.dun...@gmail.com] Envoyé : mardi 4 > juillet 2017 14:24 À : Lipatz Jean-Luc; r-devel@r-project.org Objet : > Re: [Rd] write.csv > > On 04/07/2017 5:40 AM, Lipatz Jean-Luc wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> I am currently studying how to generalize the usage of R in my statistical >> institute and I encountered a problem that I cannot declare on bugzilla >> (cannot understand why). > > Bugzilla was badly abused by spammers last year, so you need to have > your account created manually by one of the admins to post there. > Write to me privately if you'd like me to create an account for you. > (If you want it attached to a different email address, that's fine.) > > Sorry for trying this mailing list but I am really worried about the problem > itself and the possible implications in using R in a professionnal data > production context. >> The issue about 'write.csv' is that it just doesn't check if there is enough >> space on disk and doesn't report failure to write data. >> >> Example (R 3.4.0 windows 32 bits, but I reproduced the problem with >> older versions and under Mac OS/X) >> >>> fwrite(as.list(1:1000000),"G:/Test") >> Error in fwrite(as.list(1:1e+06), "G:/Test") : >> No space left on device: 'G:/Test' >>> write.csv(1:1000000,"G:/Test") >>> >> >> I have a big concern here, because it means that you could save some >> important data at one point of time and discover a long time after that you >> actually lost them. > > I suppose that the fix is relatively straightforward, but how can we be > sure that there is no another function with the same bad properties? > > R is open source. You could work out the patch for this bug, and in the > process see the pattern of coding that leads to it. Then you'll know if > other functions use the same buggy pattern. > >> Is the lesson that you should not use a R function, even from the core, >> without having personnally tested it against extreme conditions? > > I think the answer to that is yes. Most people never write such big files > that they fill their disk: if they did, all sorts of things would go wrong > on their systems. So this kind of extreme condition isn't often tested. > It's not easy to test in a platform independent way: R would need to be able > to create a volume with a small capacity. That's a very system-dependent > thing to do. > >> And wouldn't it be the work of the developpers to do such elementary tests? > > Again, R is open source. You can and should contribute code (and therefore > become one of the developers) if you are working in unusual conditions. > > R states quite clearly in the welcome message every time it starts: "R is > free software and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY." This is essentially > the same lack of warranty that you get with commercial software, though it's > stated a lot more clearly. > > Duncan Murdoch > > ______________________________________________ > R-devel@r-project.org mailing list > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstat. > ethz.ch%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fr-devel&data=02%7C01%7Cnsosnov%40micros > oft.com%7C92c3e87c4ca1482e32f908d4c2d9dd57%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd > 011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636347688364867350&sdata=7z5OJqLZDZ1zIvx8pP7KhQzNaQ% > 2FBrhZFKdUHeiFfke4%3D&reserved=0 > ______________________________________________ R-devel@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
