REditorSupport / REditorSupport/vscode-R

R fails to attach packages from folders whose paths contain special characters on macOS

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bug
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Describe the bug
R fails to attach packages from folders whose paths contain special characters (é, è, à, ȩ, ...).

To Reproduce
On the following hardware:

OS: macOS 26.2
Host: Mac14,2
Kernel: 25.2.0
Shell: /bin/zsh
DE: Aqua
WM: Quartz Compositor
Terminal: Apple_Terminal
CPU: Apple M2
GPU: Apple M2

Create R Interactive shell using the button provided by vscode-R extension

Execute the below commands:

R version 4.5.2 (2025-10-31) -- "[Not] Part in a Rumble"
Copyright (C) 2025 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing
Platform: aarch64-apple-darwin25.0.0

R is free software and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
You are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions.
Type 'license()' or 'licence()' for distribution details.

R is a collaborative project with many contributors.
Type 'contributors()' for more information and
'citation()' on how to cite R or R packages in publications.

Type 'demo()' for some demos, 'help()' for on-line help, or
'help.start()' for an HTML browser interface to help.
Type 'q()' to quit R.

> .vsc.attach()
> x <- c(1, 2, 3)
> y <- c(1, 4, 9)
> plot(x, y)

In a shell outside of VSCode, the above commands run successfully.
In the R Interactive shell on an Ubuntu 24.04.3, the above commands run successfully and the error cannot be reproduced.

Environment

  • OS: macOS
  • VSCodium Version: 1.108.10359
  • R Version: 4.5.2 (2025-10-31)
  • vscode-R version: 2.8.6

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing the .vsc.attach() entry point in the vscode-R extension and reproduce the failure on macOS with a package path containing accented characters. Compare it with the successful shell and Ubuntu cases; done means packages attach successfully from such paths in the R Interactive shell.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
macos, r, typescript, vscode
Domain
developer-experience, operating-systems, tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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