[R-SIG-Mac] R 2.7.0 hangs after plotting to X11()

[Joerg van den Hoff]

hi everybody,

some 10 days ago I posted my problems with 2.7.0 when plotting to the X11()
device (with it's new default type "cairo"). here's an excerpt from the previous
mails:

=================================CUT=================================
> >>>hi everybody,
> >>>
> >>>today  I  decided  (unwisely,  it  appears) to install 2.7.0
> >>>under MacOS 10.4.7. now, when I  run  R  from  the  terminal

which actually should read 10.4.11 ...

> >>>command line and do something like
> >>>
> >>>plot(1:10)
> >>>
> >>>a  X11 graphic window pops up, the 10 points are drawn on an
> >>>otherwise blank canvas (no axes, no labels, no  ticks  etc),
> >>>CPU  time  goes  to 100% and stays there and R does not come
> >>>back to the prompt ("hangs"). I tried to `ktrace'  this  but
> >>>this  produced a one Gig logfile in a few seconds from which
> >>>I learned nothing ...
> >>>

I'm still experiencing problems with cairo-based graphics and 2.7.0.: 

while the problem somehow went away on my powerbook g4 after having once
explicitly used `x11(type="Xlib")',  i.e. even after restart of R now plotting
procedes as it should, the same procedure was not successful on my tabletop ppc g5 (both
machines with macos 10.4.11.). here the problem persists as described in my
first mail: any plotting command, e.g.

plot(1:10) 

to the default x11 device (i.e. with type = "cairo")
plots only the data points on an otherwise empty canvas, then cpu time goes to
100% and R does not come back to the prompt ("hangs"). at which stage I can only
kill R, e.g. by throwing away the terminal running R (not responding to Ctrl-C
or Ctrl-D any more).

I have not the slightest idea what can go wrong specifically on my machine. any
suggestions what (and how) to log or where to look greatly appreciated.

joerg

=================================CUT=================================
I really would be thankful if somebody can point me in the right direction.

when I `ktrace' R until after issuing the plot-command I get a _huge_ output
file (a few hundred Meg in very short time) which for the most part shows
something like

10464 R        RET   read 4096/0x1000
10464 R        CALL  lseek(0xc,0x9f4000,0)
10464 R        RET   lseek 0
10464 R        CALL  read(0xc,0x1cd2a00,0x1000)
10464 R        GIO   fd 12 read 4096 bytes

which seemingly repeats infinitely. the strangest thing for me is, that
I first observed the described behaviour on both my machines (table top as well
as labtop ppc). but as explained above, plotting _once_ to X11(type="Xlib") 
"repaired" everything on the labtop: now plotting to X11(type="cairo") works
just fine for whatever reason. the same did _not_ happen on the tabletop
machine. here I `cairo' is definitily not working properly and I have to resort
to an explicit `X11(type="Xlib")' prior to plotting to avoid disaster.

has anybody seen the same behaviour?

help!

joerg