[R-SIG-Mac] loading tcltk fails in R 4.2.1 on macOS

[Simon Urbanek]

John,

please file an R bug report. The code guards against the absence of /usr/bin/otool, but it doesn't guard against it being a stub so I presume this is really macOS version specific so make sure you include the full details. Quick grep suggests that something similar is used for X11 as well, so it would make sense to clean it up - personally, I wouldn't use otool for this, but working around it is non-trivial, because any call to xcrun results in the dialog being popped up. (That said, this is very minor since user's response to that dialog is irrelevant, so I don't think this will be high on anyone's priority list).

Cheers,
Simon


> On Sep 3, 2022, at 9:04 AM, John Fox <jfox using mcmaster.ca> wrote:
> 
> Hi Simon,
> 
> My apologies for muddying the waters. Yes, it's been so long that I've worked on a Mac without XQuartz that I forgot to install it -- even though the most common problem with the Rcmdr on Macs is failure to install XQuartz!
> 
> But there's still a problem: With XQuartz installed and without the developer tools, loading the Rcmdr or just the tcltk package produces the warning
> 
> Warning message:
> In system2("/usr/bin/otool", c("-L", shQuote(DSO)), stdout = TRUE) :
>  running command ''/usr/bin/otool' -L '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/tcltk/libs//tcltk.so'' had status 1
> xcode-select: note: no developer tools were found at '/Applications/Xcode.app', requesting install. Choose an option in the dialog to download the command line developer tools.
> 
> and, as this warning states, a dialog box pops up offering to install the developer tools.
> 
> I suspect that most users will respond positively and have to wait through a potentially long download, even though tcltk and the Rcmdr load properly if the offer to install the development tools is declined.
> 
> Best,
> John
> 
> On 2022-09-02 3:25 p.m., Simon Urbanek wrote:
>> John,
>> Please note that the error is missing X11: tcktk requires XQuartz.
>> Dev tools are optional and help giving a better error if installed, but they are not required.
>> Cheers,
>> Simon
>>> On 3/09/2022, at 05:00, John Fox <jfox using mcmaster.ca> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Dear R-SIG-MAC list members,
>>> 
>>> Unless developer tools are installed, loading the standard tcltk package fails in R 4.2.1 on macOS because of the absence of otool:
>>> 
>>> ------- snip -------
>>> 
>>>> library(tcltk)
>>> Error: package or namespace load failed for ‘tcltk’:
>>> .onLoad failed in loadNamespace() for 'tcltk', details:
>>>  call: dyn.load(file, DLLpath = DLLpath, ...)
>>>  error: unable to load shared object '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.2/Resources/library/tcltk/libs/tcltk.so':
>>> dlopen(/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.2/Resources/library/tcltk/libs/tcltk.so, 0x000A): Library not loaded: /opt/X11/lib/libX11.6.dylib
>>>  Referenced from: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.2/Resources/library/tcltk/libs/tcltk.so
>>>  Reason: tried: '/opt/X11/lib/libX11.6.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/local/lib/libX11.6.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/lib/libX11.6.dylib' (no such file)
>>> In addition: Warning message:
>>> In system2("/usr/bin/otool", c("-L", shQuote(DSO)), stdout = TRUE) :
>>>  running command ''/usr/bin/otool' -L '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/tcltk/libs//tcltk.so'' had status 1
>>> xcode-select: note: no developer tools were found at '/Applications/Xcode.app', requesting install. Choose an option in the dialog to download the command line developer tools.
>>> 
>>>> sessionInfo()
>>> R version 4.2.1 (2022-06-23)
>>> Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin17.0 (64-bit)
>>> Running under: macOS Monterey 12.4
>>> 
>>> Matrix products: default
>>> BLAS: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.2/Resources/lib/libRblas.0.dylib
>>> LAPACK: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.2/Resources/lib/libRlapack.dylib
>>> 
>>> locale:
>>> [1] en_CA.UTF-8/en_CA.UTF-8/en_CA.UTF-8/C/en_CA.UTF-8/en_CA.UTF-8
>>> 
>>> attached base packages:
>>> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
>>> 
>>> loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
>>> [1] compiler_4.2.1
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ------- snip -------
>>> 
>>> I discovered this issue when a user (cc'd above) wrote to me about having to install the macOS developer tools in order to use the Rcmdr package. I didn't encounter the problem myself because (of course) I have the developer tools installed. I was able to reproduce the problem by dusting off an old Mac without R installed and starting from scratch.
>>> 
>>> I believe that this issue has arisen before, e.g., on R 3.1.2; see <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-sig-mac/2014-December/011260.html>.
>>> 
>>> Can this be fixed again in R-patched?
>>> 
>>> Thank you,
>>> John
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> John Fox, Professor Emeritus
>>> McMaster University
>>> Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
>>> web: https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/jfox/
>>> 
> -- 
> John Fox, Professor Emeritus
> McMaster University
> Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
> web: https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/jfox/
>