[R-SIG-Mac] R commander fonts on R 3.4.0

[peter dalgaard]

It's a build issue relating to Tcl/Tk, not specifically Rcmdr (Rcmdr does something slightly weird[*] with the fonts too, but this seems to be orthogonal to the ugly-font issue).

To see the issue quickly, try 

library(tcltk)
.Tcl("::tk::pkgconfig get fontsystem")

With CRAN 3.3.3, I get 

<Tcl> xft 

and likewise with a local nightly build of R-devel, but CRAN 3.4.0 says

> .Tcl("::tk::pkgconfig get fontsystem")
Error in .Tcl("::tk::pkgconfig get fontsystem") : 
  could not find function ".Tcl"

as does a local build of R-patched (???!!!). 

This is pretty weird. I'll see if I can dig up some more about where the difference is.

-pd



[*] Try library(tcltk); demo(tkfaq)  then library(Rcmdr) and watch the font change in the tkfaq window.


> On 15 May 2017, at 23:17 , Fox, John <jfox at mcmaster.ca> wrote:
> 
> Dear Jose,
> 
> It's a bit difficult to respond to your latest messages because you sent so many of them.
> 
> I'm not entirely sure what's producing your font problems -- perhaps Simon will have some additional ideas -- but you should be aware that you can't load the Rcmdr package -- or, more generally, the tcltk package -- without XQuartz (or another X11 system). Normally, XQuartz should start automatically when the Rcmdr (or tcltk) package is loaded. That is, you should not have to start it separately.
> 
> It may help to know that the Rcmdr package selects its default dialog font by querying the default Tk font, via the command
> 
> 	tclvalue(.Tcl("font actual TkDefaultFont -family"))
> 
> and sets the font for commands and output by querying the default Tk fixed-width font:
> 
> 	tclvalue(.Tcl("font actual TkFixedFont -family"))
> 
> On my Macs, these are respectively the helvetica and courier fonts.
> 
> In any event, I'm glad that you seem to have solved your problem.
> 
> John
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jose G Conde Santiago [mailto:jose.conde1 at upr.edu]
>> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2017 3:18 PM
>> To: Simon Urbanek <simon.urbanek at r-project.org>; Fox, John
>> <jfox at mcmaster.ca>; r-sig-mac at r-project.org
>> Subject: Re: [R-SIG-Mac] R commander fonts on R 3.4.0
>> 
>> When I run R without XQuartz, the text from the help screen renders
>> well. I think the problem seems to be related to XQuartz.
>> 
>> José
>> 
>> 
>> José G. Conde, MD, MPH
>> Professor, School of Medicine
>> Director, CentIT2
>> UPR Medical Sciences Campus
>> 
>> Tel  (787) 763-9401 Fax (787) 758-5206
>> 
>> Email: jose.conde1 at upr.edu
>> 
>> URL: http://rcmi.rcm.upr.edu
>> 
>>> On May 15, 2017, at 2:16 PM, Jose G Conde Santiago
>> <jose.conde1 at upr.edu> wrote:
>>> 
>>> … and the same I get the same issue with R “help” screens in my iMac.
>> I cannot reproduce this in the macBook.
>>> 
>>> José
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> <R help .png>
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> José G. Conde, MD, MPH
>>> Catedrático, Escuela de Medicina
>>> Director, CentIT2
>>> Recinto de Ciencias Médicas, UPR
>>> 
>>> Tel  (787) 763-9401  Fax (787) 758-5206
>>> 
>>> Correo electrónico: jose.conde1 at upr.edu
>>> 
>>> URL: http://rcmi.rcm.upr.edu
>>> 
>>>> On May 15, 2017, at 2:14 PM, Jose G Conde Santiago
>> <jose.conde1 at upr.edu> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> This is the actual resolutions.
>>>> 
>>>> José
>>>> 
>>>> <Fonts 20 points.png>
>>>> José G. Conde, MD, MPH
>>>> Professor, School of Medicine
>>>> Director, CentIT2
>>>> UPR Medical Sciences Campus
>>>> 
>>>> Tel  (787) 763-9401 Fax (787) 758-5206
>>>> 
>>>> Email: jose.conde1 at upr.edu
>>>> 
>>>> URL: http://rcmi.rcm.upr.edu
>>>> 
>>>>> On May 15, 2017, at 12:31 PM, Jose G Conde Santiago
>> <jose.conde1 at upr.edu> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> <Fonts 20 points.png>
>>>> 
>>> 
> 
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-- 
Peter Dalgaard, Professor,
Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School
Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
Phone: (+45)38153501
Office: A 4.23
Email: pd.mes at cbs.dk  Priv: PDalgd at gmail.com