How to install ESS on Mac OS X

2
votes

I am trying to use Emacs instead of R on my Mac machine. I've been looking online how to install ESS so that I can use R in Emacs. But I am really confused by the installation manual which says,

Extract all the files from ess-VERSION.tgz into the directory PREFIX/site-lisp where PREFIX is appropriate for GNU Emacs on your system; PREFIX will most likely be either /usr/share/emacs or /usr/local/share/emacs (on Mac OS X, PREFIX will most likely be something like /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources):

Where do I find this: /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources. I looked at Applications folder and it only contains the application file emacs.

2
rmacosemacsess
I assume you are trying to move the files using finder? If so, CTRL+Click (right click) the "Emacs" application and select "Show package contents". - Carl Groner

2 Answers

1
votes

Mac applications are bundled in folders with the .app extension. These folders are handled in a special manner by the finder which hides their contents. (See https://superuser.com/questions/78176/how-do-mac-app-execution-files-work for info). Specifically in you case /Applications/Emacs.app is really a folder. To get to its contents right click on it and choose "Show package contents". You will be able to get to /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources from there.

0
votes

The ESS documentation recommends using a modified version of Emacs, which includes ESS and a few other packages. It is available for Windows and Mac.