[R-SIG-Mac] Problems with Rcmdr via XQuartz on OSX Mavericks

[Prof Brian Ripley]

This does not happen for me provided R.app is visible.  From

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/releasenotes/MacOSX/WhatsNewInOSX/Articles/MacOSX10_9.html

'An app is considered to be a candidate for sleep if:

     It is not visible—if all of an app’s windows are either hidden by 
other windows or minimized in a hidden dock, and the app is not in the 
foreground

(other necessary conditions)'.

which if accurate indicates that keeping the R.app console unhidden 
should suffice.



On 30/11/2013 10:59, peter dalgaard wrote:
>
> On 29 Nov 2013, at 16:35 , Simon Urbanek <simon.urbanek at r-project.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> But let me say that what has been proposed is very heavy-handed to say it mildly - changing user's configuration files is not something that should be done without user's consent (if at all) - and AFAIK you're not allowed to do it if you plan to put this on CRAN. In addition, it's trying to swat the symptom with a hammer, it doesn't solve the problem (which is why doesn't tcltk wake up sleep with its activity).
>>
>
> On the other hand, the OS is also acting very heavy-handed here! Try this
>
>> for (i in 1:100) print(system.time(replicate(1e4, t.test(rexp(10),mu=1)$statistic))[["elapsed"]])
>
> and go surf the net or something while you wait. The time per iteration shoots up by a factor of 5-6 as R.app goes into App Nap. I.e., the problem is not confined to tcltk.
>
>>
>>> Wouldn't it be better to handle this issue in R.app or even in tcltk, however?
>>>
>>
>> Yes, it should be handled in either of the two - if this problem is tcltk-specific then tcltk should wake up the sleep, if it is something that affects other R code as well, then it may need to be handled in the R event loop.
>
> Looks like it is that latter. Until we figure out how to do that, I think we need to prepare to tell users to set NSAppSleepDisabled, if they want to do something computationally intensive (and be able to go for a cup of coffee in the meantime). Of course it is nicer, OS-wise, to leave App Nap enabled, but it reduces the energy footprint of an inactive R.app from only about 1.5 to nearly 0.0, compared to about 100 when R is actually working.
>


-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
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