[R] X11 font error on headless server running Xvfb

[Jonathan Levine]

Thanks, Don.  the Cairo package was just what I needed.

It was a challenge to get it all set up on the serve since I don't have root privileges.  Had to install Pixman and Cairo, figure out to set TMPDIR so R could build the package.  

This page was critical is getting Cairo to compile from source:  http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.cairo/20962 ,
and the R admin manual http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-admin.pdf explained some of the issues with installing the packages .

Jay

On Jun 4, 2012, at 5:37 PM, MacQueen, Don wrote:

> You could try the Cairo() device from the Cairo package. It's my
> understanding (from a time when I was using Xvgb for the same reason) that
> Cairo does not depend on X Windows.
> 
> -Don
> 
> -- 
> Don MacQueen
> 
> Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
> 7000 East Ave., L-627
> Livermore, CA 94550
> 925-423-1062
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 6/4/12 9:31 AM, "Jonathan Levine" <jstat at erols.com> wrote:
> 
>> I am trying to run an R script to create a .png file containing a tree
>> map on a headless Linux server using Xvfb.  When I try to run tmPlot, I
>> get the following errors and warnings:
>> 
>> Error in grid.Call(L_textBounds, as.graphicsAnnot(x$label), x$x, x$y,  :
>> X11 font -adobe-helvetica-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*, face 1 at size 9
>> could not be loaded
>> Calls: tmPlot ... <Anonymous> -> widthDetails -> widthDetails.text ->
>> grid.Call
>> In addition: Warning messages:
>> 1: In grid.Call.graphics(L_text, as.graphicsAnnot(x$label), x$x, x$y,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> ...
>> etc.  (complete error message below)
>> 
>> The .png file does contain a partially constructed graph.  When I try
>> something simple like plot(x,y) I get a plot with warnings.
>> 
>> The results from capabilities() and X11Fonts() (see end of message)
>> suggest to me that it should work.
>> 
>> Any idea what is happening and how to fix the problem (or work around it)?
>> 
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Jay
>> --------------------------
>> 
>>> sessionInfo()
>> R version 2.15.0 (2012-03-30)
>> Platform: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu (64-bit)
>> 
>> 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=C                 LC_NAME=C
>> [9] LC_ADDRESS=C               LC_TELEPHONE=C
>> [11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C
>> 
>> attached base packages:
>> [1] grid      stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods
>> [8] base     
>> 
>> other attached packages:
>> [1] treemap_1.0-4      data.table_1.8.0   RColorBrewer_1.0-5
>>> capabilities()
>>   jpeg      png     tiff    tcltk      X11     aqua http/ftp  sockets
>>   TRUE     TRUE     TRUE     TRUE     TRUE    FALSE     TRUE     TRUE
>> libxml     fifo   cledit    iconv      NLS  profmem    cairo
>>   TRUE     TRUE    FALSE     TRUE     TRUE    FALSE    FALSE
>>> X11Fonts()
>> $serif
>> [1] "-*-times-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
>> 
>> $sans
>> [1] "-*-helvetica-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
>> 
>> $mono
>> [1] "-*-courier-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
>> 
>> $Times
>> [1] "-adobe-times-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
>> 
>> $Helvetica
>> [1] "-adobe-helvetica-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
>> 
>> $CyrTimes
>> [1] "-cronyx-times-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
>> 
>> $CyrHelvetica
>> [1] "-cronyx-helvetica-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
>> 
>> $Arial
>> [1] "-monotype-arial-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
>> 
>> $Mincho
>> [1] "-*-mincho-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
>> 
>>> 
>>> png(file="/tmp/tmpzT4H0e.png",width = 800, height = 800)
>>> tmPlot(myDF,index=c(vars[1],vars[2]),
>> + vSize=vars[4], 
>> + vColor=vars[3], 
>> + type="value")
>> Error in grid.Call(L_textBounds, as.graphicsAnnot(x$label), x$x, x$y,  :
>> X11 font -adobe-helvetica-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*, face 1 at size 9
>> could not be loaded
>> Calls: tmPlot ... <Anonymous> -> widthDetails -> widthDetails.text ->
>> grid.Call
>> In addition: Warning messages:
>> 1: In grid.Call.graphics(L_text, as.graphicsAnnot(x$label), x$x, x$y,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> 2: In grid.Call.graphics(L_text, as.graphicsAnnot(x$label), x$x, x$y,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> 3: In grid.Call.graphics(L_rect, x$x, x$y, x$width, x$height,
>> resolveHJust(x$just,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> 4: In grid.Call.graphics(L_rect, x$x, x$y, x$width, x$height,
>> resolveHJust(x$just,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> 5: In grid.Call.graphics(L_text, as.graphicsAnnot(x$label), x$x, x$y,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> 6: In grid.Call.graphics(L_text, as.graphicsAnnot(x$label), x$x, x$y,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> 7: In grid.Call.graphics(L_text, as.graphicsAnnot(x$label), x$x, x$y,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> 8: In grid.Call.graphics(L_text, as.graphicsAnnot(x$label), x$x, x$y,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> 9: In grid.Call.graphics(L_rect, x$x, x$y, x$width, x$height,
>> resolveHJust(x$just,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> 10: In grid.Call.graphics(L_rect, x$x, x$y, x$width, x$height,
>> resolveHJust(x$just,  :
>> X11 protocol error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
>> Execution halted
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