openxlsx does not find RTools

[RomanBi]

Hey,

I installed openxlsx and it works perfectly on my desktop, however it does not work on my notebook. The versions of RTools, R and openxlsx are the same.

saveWorkbook(wb, file = "dq", overwrite = TRUE)
Error: zipping up workbook failed. Please make sure Rtools is installed or a zip application is     available to R.
Try installr::install.rtools() on Windows.
installr::install.rtools()
No need to install Rtools - You've got the relevant version of Rtools installed
saveWorkbook(wb, file = "dq", overwrite = TRUE)
Error: zipping up workbook failed. Please make sure Rtools is installed or a zip application is available to R.
Try installr::install.rtools() on Windows.

There is one closed error report describing the same problem. It could be solved be deinstallation of RTools, cleaning the registry and reinstallation of RTools. However, this did not work for me.

Thanks

[awalker89]

when you do
system("PATH") do you the path to "Rtools\bin" in the result?

[RomanBi]

Oh... you are right. I forgot to set the path variable when installing Rtools, Sys.getenv("PATH") told me. Works perfectly now.

Thank you, Alex!

[samot79]

Sorry to bump this thread but I have the exact same problem. I have no idea how to "set the path variable".. Can you please help me?

saveWorkbook(wb, "writeDataExample.xlsx", overwrite = TRUE)
Error: zipping up workbook failed. Please make sure Rtools is installed or a zip application is available to R.
Try installr::install.rtools() on Windows.

installr::install.rtools()
No need to install Rtools - You've got the relevant version of Rtools installed

[awalker89]

I've added a vignette to explain this. During the install of Rtools you need to tick the box to edit the system PATH

An alternative to this is to set it within the R session with

Sys.setenv("R_ZIPCMD" = "C:/Rtools/bin/zip.exe") ## path to zip.exe

[samot79]

Worked perfect. Thanks a lot :)

Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 02:03:09 -0800
From: notifications@github.com
To: openxlsx@noreply.github.com
CC: samot1979@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: [openxlsx] openxlsx does not find RTools (#111)

I've added a vignette to explain this. During the install of Rtools you need to tick the box to edit the system PATH

An alternative to this is to set it within the R session with

Sys.setenv("R_ZIPCMD" = "C:/Rtools/bin/zip.exe") ## path to zip.exe

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[mubashirqasim]

Hi there, how about this error on Linux?

[tmamiya]

Hi Alex, I was curious also about Linux. I think i need to set the R_ZIPCMD system variable: however don't know where to set it to, I have installed zip, but don't know where it is in rhel. Any help would be appreciated.

[tmamiya]

Nm figured it out.
For those out there who are looking for Rtools in linux, you can use zip as an alternative.

1. install zip into linux
2. set your path (using command below) to that location for me it was /usr/bin/zip
   Sys.setenv(R_ZIPCMD= "/usr/bin/zip")

[Anto58]

Hi Alex,
I'm having the same problem and I've read your vignette on Installation of openxlsx. Sys.getenv("R_ZIPCMD") shows that I do indeed have a path to C:/Rtools/bin/zip.exe, but if I run shell("zip"), I get:

zip diagnostic: GetVolumeInformation failed
adding: - (deflated 0%)
PK��-

I think the loadWorkbook function is working as a get an object in my environment but when I try the saveWorkbook function I get the message that RomanBi reported in his/her original message.

I don't know if it is relevant that I am working on a system where I don't have administrator rights and can't alter things on the C drive.

I'm a novice in these things and any help you can provide would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Susan

[jabowery]

I've recently had to switch from Linux to Windows and find the instructions for installing R on Windows need cleaning up. Even though Rtools is big, it isn't really an optional component for serious use. Rather than challenging the user with the modification of the PATH, that point in the install should offer the option of downloading the 100M Rtools package and modify the PATH at the same time.

More to the point of the present topic, telling people what they should have done during install after the fact isn't helpful. Moreover, telling them that (in the likely event they didn't pre-install Rtools before installing R) such an essential component should be made available by modifying the PATH at the start of every R session -- rather than telling them how to permanently modify the PATH as though they had done so during install -- is not very helpful.

[awalker89]

@jabowery does this have anything to do with this specific R package (openxlsx)?

[jabowery]

My point is that openxlsx/issues/111 isn't an openxlsx issue at all. It is an R installation issue and should be raised as such.