[R-SIG-Mac] tcltk causes help() to hang in R 4.2.0 on macOS

[Simon Urbanek]

John,

thanks, this is a regression caused by r78421 (deadlock when TclTk's event loop is called in http processing). Removing L875 in src/modules/internet/Rhttpd.c restores the previous behavior, but the underlying problem is more complex and will require more investigation.

Cheers,
Simon


> On 29/05/2022, at 5:36 AM, John Fox <jfox using mcmaster.ca> wrote:
> 
> Dear R-sig-mac list members,
> 
> I've discovered that loading the tcltk package apparently causes R 4.2.0 (including the current patched version) to hang on an M1 Mac.
> 
> Try, e.g.,
> 
> library("tcltk")
> help("lm")
> 
> My session info:
> 
> ------- snip -------
> 
> > sessionInfo()
> R version 4.2.0 Patched (2022-05-28 r82413)
> Platform: aarch64-apple-darwin20 (64-bit)
> Running under: macOS Monterey 12.3.1
> 
> Matrix products: default
> BLAS: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.2-arm64/Resources/lib/libRblas.0.dylib
> LAPACK: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.2-arm64/Resources/lib/libRlapack.dylib
> 
> locale:
> [1] en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/C/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8
> 
> attached base packages:
> [1] tcltk     stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods
> [8] base
> 
> loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
> [1] compiler_4.2.0
> 
> ------- snip -------
> 
> Some additional details: The problem occurs both in the R macOS console and, if options(help_type="html"), when R is run in a terminal window on macOS, but not when options(help_type="text"). The former is the default in the Mac R console, the latter when R is run in a terminal.
> 
> The problem is apparently new in R 4.2.0 -- it doesn't, e.g., occur in R 4.1.3. My apologies for not turning it up earlier.
> 
> I discovered the problem when accessing help in the Rcmdr GUI, which uses tcltk, caused R to hang.
> 
> Has anyone else encountered this problem?
> 
> Best,
> John
> -- 
> John Fox, Professor Emeritus
> McMaster University
> Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
> web: https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/jfox/
> 
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