Saving pptx files fails if officer is installed read-only

[eline-anslot]

The issue #555 has been closed however the bug seems to still be present. I ran both commands from #555 (comment) and they both gave a permission error.

We came across this problem when running the following R code using officer version 0.6.10 and R version 4.5.1:

library(officer)

my_pres <- read_pptx() 
my_pres <- add_slide(my_pres, layout = "Title and Content", master = "Office Theme")
print(my_pres, target = file.path(tempdir(), "pptx_example'.pptx"))

which return the following error:

Error in write_xml.xml_document(private$doc, file = private$filename) : 
  Error closing file

You can use the following code to reproduce it:

nix-shell -p R -p rPackages.officer --run 'Rscript -e "library(officer); my_pres <- read_pptx(); my_pres <- add_slide(my_pres, layout = "Title and Content", master = "Office Theme"); print(my_pres, target = file.path(tempdir(), "pptx_example'.pptx"))"'

The information of the R session:

R version 4.5.1 (2025-06-13)
Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Running under: NixOS 25.05 (Warbler)

Matrix products: default
BLAS/LAPACK: /nix/store/k8aawsx66xjgd8qhdr24dqaq9s0w8av5-blas-3/lib/libblas.so.3;  LAPACK version 3.12.0

locale:
 [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C               LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8        LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8     LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8    LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8   
 [7] LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NAME=C                  LC_ADDRESS=C               LC_TELEPHONE=C             LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C       

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     

other attached packages:
[1] officer_0.6.10

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
 [1] compiler_4.5.1    R6_2.6.1          cli_3.6.5         ragg_1.4.0        tools_4.5.1       uuid_1.2-1        xml2_1.3.8        zip_2.3.3         textshaping_1.0.1
[10] lifecycle_1.0.4   rlang_1.1.6       systemfonts_1.2.3 openssl_2.3.3     askpass_1.2.1  

[davidgohel]

In comment #555 (comment), I asked if there were information about how to reproduce but got no answer. As I could not reproduce the issue, it has been closed.

I still can't reproduce the issue.

I know little about nix. If that command should reproduce the issue, can you provide also the environnement that is to be reproduced (a docker image ?)

nix-shell -p R -p rPackages.officer --run 'Rscript -e "library(officer); my_pres <- read_pptx(); my_pres <- add_slide(my_pres, layout = "Title and Content", master = "Office Theme"); print(my_pres, target = file.path(tempdir(), "pptx_example'.pptx"))"'

To test, I am using https://docs.ropensci.org/rix/articles/z-advanced-topic-using-nix-inside-docker.html

This is the dockerfile

FROM ubuntu:latest

RUN apt update -y

RUN apt install curl -y

# We don't have R nor {rix} in this image, so we can bootstrap it by downloading
# the default.nix file that comes with {rix}. You can also download it beforehand
# and then copy it to the Docker image
RUN curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ropensci/rix/main/inst/extdata/default.nix

# Copy a script to generate the environment of interest using {rix}
COPY generate_env.R .

# The next 4 lines install Nix inside Docker. See the Determinate Systems installer's documentation
RUN curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install linux \
  --extra-conf "sandbox = false" \
  --init none \
  --no-confirm

# Adds Nix to the path, as described by the Determinate Systems installer's documentation
ENV PATH="${PATH}:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin"
ENV user=root

# Set up rstats-on-nix cache
# Thanks to the rstats-on-nix cache, precompiled binary packages will
# be downloaded instead of being compiled from source
RUN mkdir -p /root/.config/nix && \
    echo "substituters = https://cache.nixos.org https://rstats-on-nix.cachix.org" > /root/.config/nix/nix.conf && \
    echo "trusted-public-keys = cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY= rstats-on-nix.cachix.org-1:vdiiVgocg6WeJrODIqdprZRUrhi1JzhBnXv7aWI6+F0=" >> /root/.config/nix/nix.conf

# This will overwrite the default.nix we downloaded previously with a new
# expression generated from running `generate_env.R`
RUN nix-shell --run "Rscript generate_env.R"

# We now build the environment
RUN nix-build

# Finally, we run `nix-shell`. This will get executed when running
# containers from this image. You can of course put anything in here
CMD nix-shell

This is the file generate_env.R:

library(rix)

rix(
  r_ver = "4.5.2",
  r_pkgs = c("officer"),
  ide = "none",
  project_path = ".",
  overwrite = TRUE
)

Commands (from the article)

docker build -t my_image .
docker run --rm -it --name my_rix_container my_image

Then from the container:

[nix-shell:/]# R

R version 4.5.2 (2025-10-31) -- "[Not] Part in a Rumble"
Copyright (C) 2025 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing
Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu

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.

  Natural language support but running in an English locale

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.

> library(officer)
> library(officer)

my_pres <- read_pptx() 
my_pres <- add_slide(my_pres, layout = "Title and Content", master = "Office Theme")
print(my_pres, target = 'test.pptx')
> sessionInfo()
Warning: Your system is mis-configured: ‘/var/db/timezone/localtime’ is not a symlink
Warning: ‘/var/db/timezone/localtime’ is not identical to any known timezone file
R version 4.5.2 (2025-10-31)
Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Running under: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS

Matrix products: default
BLAS/LAPACK: /nix/store/9rp469cmiys6a4ncgc6nhwvj8kb9a2q7-blas-3/lib/libblas.so.3;  LAPACK version 3.12.0

locale:
 [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C              
 [3] LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8        LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8    
 [5] LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8    LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8   
 [7] LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NAME=C                 
 [9] LC_ADDRESS=C               LC_TELEPHONE=C            
[11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C       

time zone: NA
tzcode source: system (glibc)

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     

other attached packages:
[1] officer_0.7.2

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
 [1] tidyr_1.3.2       R6_2.6.1          tidyselect_1.2.1  magrittr_2.0.4   
 [5] glue_1.8.0        tibble_3.3.1      pkgconfig_2.0.3   dplyr_1.1.4      
 [9] generics_0.1.4    lifecycle_1.0.5   xml2_1.5.1        cli_3.6.5        
[13] zip_2.3.3         askpass_1.2.1     openssl_2.3.4     vctrs_0.6.5      
[17] textshaping_1.0.4 systemfonts_1.3.1 compiler_4.5.2    tools_4.5.2      
[21] purrr_1.2.1       ragg_1.5.0        pillar_1.11.1     rlang_1.1.7      
[25] uuid_1.2-1

The code run with no issue with this nix environment

Note, you are using officer 0.6.10, I don't think this is an issue but I would try to update to latest version however.

[eline-anslot]

Thank you for your quick response. Below you can find a Dockerfile that reproduces the problem. I suspect that your example does not fail because R is running using the root user.

FROM ubuntu:latest

RUN apt update \
    && apt install -y curl xz-utils \
    && mkdir -m 0755 /nix && chown ubuntu /nix

# Use non root user
USER ubuntu

# Install nix
ENV PATH="/home/ubuntu/.nix-profile/bin:${PATH}"
RUN curl -sL https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh -s -- --no-daemon

# Activate installed nix for user to be able to use nix-shell command
RUN . /home/ubuntu/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh

# Run example of code that did not work
CMD nix-shell -p R -p rPackages.officer --run 'Rscript -e "library(officer); my_pres <- read_pptx(); my_pres <- add_slide(my_pres, layout = \"Title and Content\", master = \"Office Theme\"); print(my_pres, target = \"pptx_example.pptx\")"'

You can run it as follows:

docker build -t officer-nixos . 
docker run --rm officer-nixos:latest

[davidgohel]

Great, thank you, I am now able to reproduce ! As you suggested, the read-only attributes is key.

How do you install a package from github ? (using 'remotes' did not worked as the library is read-only). The version I got is 0.7.0 (too old) and I will need to test it works ? This is not very important but would be welcome

To reproduce the issue without nix:

chmod -R 555 <lib_path>/officer

library(officer)
my_pres <- read_pptx()
my_pres <- add_slide(my_pres, layout = "Title and Content")
output <- tempfile(fileext = ".pptx")
print(my_pres, target = output)

[davidgohel]

it should now be fixed (in the github/dev version, soon on cran)

[davidgohel]

I'll close the issue when the cran version will be available

[eline-anslot]

Thank you for trying to fix the problem. However, I got another issue using the last commit hash.

To install packages from github from a specific commit you can use the following Dockerfile:

FROM ubuntu:latest

RUN apt update \
    && apt install -y curl xz-utils \
    && mkdir -m 0755 /nix && chown ubuntu /nix

# Use non root user
USER ubuntu

# Install nix
ENV PATH="/home/ubuntu/.nix-profile/bin:${PATH}"
RUN curl -sL https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh -s -- --no-daemon

# Activate installed nix for user to be able to use nix-shell command
RUN . /home/ubuntu/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh

# Commit hash
ARG commit="dbb27faa10e6a520092716748992d69271bf3c94"
ENV commit=$commit

# Run example of code 
CMD nix-shell -p R \
   -p "(rPackages.officer.overrideAttrs (prev: {src = fetchTarball \"https://github.com/davidgohel/officer/archive/${commit}.tar.gz\";propagatedBuildInputs = prev.propagatedBuildInputs ++ [pkgs.rPackages.dplyr pkgs.rPackages.tidyr];}))" \
   --run 'Rscript -e "library(officer); my_pres <- read_pptx(); my_pres <- add_slide(my_pres, layout = \"Title and Content\", master = \"Office Theme\"); print(my_pres, target = \"pptx_example.pptx\")"'

You can then give a specific commit hash when building it. For instance for the last commit as of today:

docker build --build-arg commit="23275a95169ef41ab52567c62273e705922002ac" -t officer-nixos . && docker run --rm officer-nixos:latest

This return the following error:

* installing *source* package 'officer' ...
** this is package 'officer' version '0.7.3.004'
[...]
Error in file(file, ifelse(append, "a", "w")) : 
  cannot open the connection
Calls: print ... print.rpptx -> pack_folder -> absolute_path -> cat -> file
In addition: Warning message:
In file(file, ifelse(append, "a", "w")) :
  cannot open file 'pptx_example.pptx': Permission denied
Execution halted

[davidgohel]

thanks a lot for your perfect reprex :)

It seems to me it worked, I changed the path of pptx_example.pptx to R tempir() with tempfile(), it makes sure this user can write in the file. I think in your example, ./pptx_example.pptx is a Read-Only directory for the user ubuntu.

FROM ubuntu:latest

RUN apt update \
    && apt install -y curl xz-utils \
    && mkdir -m 0755 /nix && chown ubuntu /nix

# Use non root user
USER ubuntu

# Install nix
ENV PATH="/home/ubuntu/.nix-profile/bin:${PATH}"
RUN curl -sL https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh -s -- --no-daemon

# Activate installed nix for user to be able to use nix-shell command
RUN . /home/ubuntu/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh

# Commit hash
ARG commit="dbb27faa10e6a520092716748992d69271bf3c94"
ENV commit=$commit

# Run example of code
CMD nix-shell -p R \
   -p "(rPackages.officer.overrideAttrs (prev: {src = fetchTarball \"https://github.com/davidgohel/officer/archive/${commit}.tar.gz\";propagatedBuildInputs = prev.propagatedBuildInputs ++ [pkgs.rPackages.dplyr pkgs.rPackages.tidyr];}))" \
   --run 'Rscript -e "library(officer); my_pres <- read_pptx(); my_pres <- add_slide(my_pres, layout = \"Title and Content\", master = \"Office Theme\"); print(my_pres, target = tempfile(fileext = \".pptx\"))"'

copying path '/nix/store/xvnp04q96cfw6kqhl7xvl210zd83wmsc-r-dplyr-1.1.4' from 'https://cache.nixos.org'...
copying path '/nix/store/r2n5iplq9y0525x43fmlpb99r6cwvh4p-r-tidyr-1.3.1' from 'https://cache.nixos.org'...
building '/nix/store/44jfj4g90bp50bp8nx4r06amn9bf5fqz-r-officer-0.7.0.drv'...
Running phase: unpackPhase
unpacking source archive /nix/store/lpdxwp3gkjsvdbavfhxamr26902wgga5-source
source root is source
Running phase: patchPhase
Running phase: updateAutotoolsGnuConfigScriptsPhase
Running phase: configurePhase
Running phase: buildPhase
Running phase: checkPhase
Running phase: installPhase
* installing *source* package 'officer' ...
** this is package 'officer' version '0.7.3.004'
** using staged installation
** R
** inst
** byte-compile and prepare package for lazy loading
** help
*** installing help indices
*** copying figures
** building package indices
** testing if installed package can be loaded from temporary location
** testing if installed package can be loaded from final location
** testing if installed package keeps a record of temporary installation path
* DONE (officer)
Running phase: fixupPhase
shrinking RPATHs of ELF executables and libraries in /nix/store/0li2wwqqpwca0dbfhd53k3i4iwv1hlj1-r-officer-0.7.0
checking for references to /nix/var/nix/builds/nix-7-3210451993/ in /nix/store/0li2wwqqpwca0dbfhd53k3i4iwv1hlj1-r-officer-0.7.0...
patching script interpreter paths in /nix/store/0li2wwqqpwca0dbfhd53k3i4iwv1hlj1-r-officer-0.7.0
making symlink relative: /nix/store/0li2wwqqpwca0dbfhd53k3i4iwv1hlj1-r-officer-0.7.0/nix-support/propagated-user-env-packages

[eline-anslot]

Indeed, thank you a lot for the fast reactions and fix