[R-SIG-Mac] Problems loading Rcmdr on a Mac 10.7.2 and a Mac 10.6.8

[John Fox]

Dear Brian,

I've modified the Mac installation instructions again to add back the check
for a prior installation of X-Windows. The instructions are at
<http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/jfox/Misc/Rcmdr/installation-notes.html>.

Thanks for your help,
 John

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Prof Brian Ripley [mailto:ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk]
> Sent: Friday, September 20, 2013 8:37 AM
> To: John Fox
> Cc: 'r-sig-mac'
> Subject: Re: [R-SIG-Mac] Problems loading Rcmdr on a Mac 10.7.2 and a
> Mac 10.6.8
> 
> On 20/09/2013 12:54, John Fox wrote:
> > Dear Brian,
> >
> > On Fri, 20 Sep 2013 07:49:05 +0100
> >   Prof Brian Ripley <ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk> wrote:
> >> On 20/09/2013 01:52, John Fox wrote:
> >>> Dear Sarah,
> >>>
> >>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> From: Sarah Hardy [mailto:sarah.hardy at maine.edu]
> >>>> Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2013 8:08 PM
> >>>> To: John Fox
> >>>> Cc: Simon Urbanek; David Winsemius; r-sig-mac
> >>>> Subject: Re: [R-SIG-Mac] Problems loading Rcmdr on a Mac 10.7.2
> and a
> >>>> Mac 10.6.8
> >>>>
> >>>> Running the "Software Update" and reinstalling R and Rcmdr worked
> for
> >>>> the student with the 10.7.2. We did not reinstall XQuartz. Now I
> will
> >>>
> >>> I'm glad that this worked. Apparently, the student had an old
> version of
> >>> X-Windows that was updated by Software Update. As Simon explained,
> in this
> >>> situation installing XQuartz is irrelevant because the other
> version of
> >>> X-Windows is invoked by R.
> >>>
> >>>> see if it works for the others. BTW - I have identified at least
> one
> >>>> student with a 10.6.8 who had no problems installing R and Rcmdr
> >>>> without installing XQuartz (per my instructions) - am going to
> check
> >>>> with other students tomorrow.
> >>>
> >>> If the student installed a sufficiently up-to-date X-Windows, that
> should
> >>> work, and apparently did. The X-Windows used needn't be XQuartz. My
> new
> >>> instructions suggest that everyone install XQuartz because that
> will give
> >>> them an up-to-date X-Windows if they don't already have X-windows
> installed,
> >>> and will do no harm if they do have another X-Windows.
> >>
> >> I am not so sure about that.  It will do no harm running CRAN binary
> R.  But it does mean that there are multiple versions of X11 things
> about
> >> and that will cause problems for other things (including possibly
> installing packages from source).
> >
> > Thanks for pointing out this potential problem.
> >
> > Oh well -- I hoped to have a simple set of instructions, and having
> everyone install XQuartz followed what I took to be Simon's suggestion
> (below).
> >
> > Almost all of the problems people have with the Rcmdr package are on
> the Mac OS X platform, and since most of these people are not
> sophisticated in their computer use, having simple instructions is
> important.
> >
> > How about the following?
> >
> > (1) Run System Update.
> >
> > (2) Check whether X-Windows is installed. (I can restore my previous
> instructions about how to check.)
> >
> > (3) If X-Windows isn't installed, install XQuartz.
> 
> I think so.  And I have no problem with installing XQuartz on 10.6 or
> 10.7 if Apple X11 is not installed.
> 
> Our experience on Solaris (which itself comes with two X11 setups)
> shows
> how easily it is to get them mixed and how hard it can be to
> disentangle.
> 
> >
> > etc.
> >
> > Best,
> >   John
> >
> > . . .
> >
> >>>> 	> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> 	> From: Simon Urbanek [mailto:simon.urbanek at r-project.org]
> >>>>
> >>>> 	> Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2013 11:49 AM
> >>>> 	> To: John Fox
> >>>> 	> Cc: 'David Winsemius'; 'Sarah Hardy'; 'r-sig-mac'
> >>>> 	> Subject: Re: [R-SIG-Mac] Problems loading Rcmdr on a Mac 10.7.2
> >>>> and a
> >>>> 	> Mac 10.6.8
> >>>> 	>
> >>>>
> >>>> 	> Well, the I think it reads far more complicated that in needs to
> >>>> be.
> >>>> 	> You should have a quickstart section that just says:
> >>>> 	>
> >>>> 	> * Install R 3.0.1 or later
> >>>> 	> * Install XQuartz from http://xquartz.macosforge.org
> >>>> 	>
> >>>> 	> Done. Current R only supports 10.6.8+ and so does XQuartz so the
> >>>> above
> >>>> 	> covers everything that is supported right now (I recall having
> >>>> that
> >>>> 	> discussion earlier...).
> >>>> 	>
> >>>> 	> Then you can have troubleshooting section which says
> >>>> 	>
> >>>> 	> a) make sure you installed R with Tcl/Tk (it is the default) -
> >>>> if in
> >>>> 	> doubt, re-install R from CRAN
> >>>> 	> b) use Software Update
> >>>> 	>
> >>>> 	> Then you can have a technical section with the details you show
> >>>> below,
> >>>> 	> but 99% of users should not need to read it.
> >>>> 	>
> >>>> 	> Cheers,
> >>>> 	> Simon
> >
> > . . .
> >
> >
> 
> 
> --
> 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)
> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595