[R] No graphics capability on fresh install of R2.11.0 on FreeBSD 8.0

[Rainer Hurling]

On 17.06.2010 04:45 (UTC+1), Ben Madin wrote:
> G'day all,

Hi Ben,

> I am working on a new FreeBSD 8.0 Server (remotely located), and have installed (now several times) R 2.11.0 but I cannot get any graphic outputs (everything else seems to be happening fine...)

i'm also working with FreeBSD (9.0-CURRENT, not remotely) and R 2.11.1 
(not from ports system, but direct installation).

> During install I have noticed and checked that png, jpeg, cairo etc libraries are available - here is the build output :
>
> R is now configured for amd64-portbld-freebsd8.0
>
>   Source directory:          .
>   Installation directory:    /usr/local
>
>   C compiler:                gcc44 -std=gnu99  -O2 -pipe -Wl,-rpath=/usr/local/lib/gcc44 -fno-strict-aliasing
>   Fortran 77 compiler:       gfortran44  -O
>
>   C++ compiler:              g++44  -O2 -pipe -Wl,-rpath=/usr/local/lib/gcc44 -fno-strict-aliasing
>   Fortran 90/95 compiler:    gfortran44 -O
>   Obj-C compiler:	     gcc -g -O2
>
>   Interfaces supported:      X11, tcltk
>   External libraries:        readline, BLAS(generic), LAPACK(generic), ICU, lzma
>   Additional capabilities:   PNG, JPEG, TIFF, NLS, cairo
>   Options enabled:           shared R library, R profiling
>
>   Recommended packages:      yes
>
> ===>   Building for R-2.11.0_1
>
> and thus
>
>> sessionInfo()
> R version 2.11.0 (2010-04-22)
> amd64-portbld-freebsd8.0
>
> locale:
> [1] C
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
>
> other attached packages:
> [1] Cairo_1.4-6
>
>
> yet when I start it up, I get this :
>
>> library(graphics)
>> png('this.file.png')
> Error in X11(paste("png::", filename, sep = ""), width, height, pointsize,  :
>    unable to start device PNG
> In addition: Warning message:
> In png("this.file.png") : unable to open connection to X11 display ''

For me it looks like your X11 installation is not complete. You wrote 
about a server installation with remote access. Please take care to get 
installed all relevant ports. Easiest way is to install /usr/ports/x11/xorg.

> and after installing Cairo
>
>> install.packages('Cairo',,'http://www.rforge.net/')
>    trying URL 'http://www.rforge.net/src/contrib/Cairo_1.4-6.tar.gz'
>
> I get :
>
>> library(Cairo)
>> Cairo(file='thisfile.png', type='png', height=480, width=640)
> Error in Cairo(file = "thisfile.png", type = "png", height = 480, width = 640) :
>    No font found in Rcairo_set_font
>
> Thus stumped, I checked :
>
>> capabilities()
>      jpeg      png     tiff    tcltk      X11     aqua http/ftp  sockets
>     FALSE    FALSE    FALSE     TRUE    FALSE    FALSE     TRUE     TRUE
>    libxml     fifo   cledit    iconv      NLS  profmem    cairo
>      TRUE     TRUE     TRUE     TRUE     TRUE    FALSE    FALSE

All graphical capabilities are disabled. See my comment above.

> If this is not the appropriate place for this to be sorted, I am happy to try elsewhere.
>
> cheers
>
> Ben

Hope I could help,
Rainer