[R-SIG-Mac] XQuartz launches during R CMD check?

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 2025-06-22 2:37 p.m., Carl Witthoft wrote:
> Hi,
> I'm running into some MacOS - Sequoia problems with XQuartz, and it
> occurred to me to ask whether it's actually needed for successful
> completion of the command
> 
>   >> R CMD check --as-cran [packagename]
> 
> That command at some point causes XQuartz to launch -- at least on my
> system -- so now I'm wondering if that is normal?
> 

It depends on the package.  Most packages won't need XQuartz.  You could 
configure R to use it as a default graphics device by setting 
`options(device=X11)` but normally most packages don't use it.  Your 
startup script might do that though.

Some packages do use it.  If the package calls X11(), that will open 
XQuartz.  If it uses the rgl package, it will default to opening 
XQuartz, but can be told not to.

I don't know of other examples, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are 
some.

Duncan Murdoch