[R] png-generation from script (non-X11 env) now broken?

[Ista Zahn]

Hi David,

Did you see https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2010-March/231778.html
? What does capabilities() tell you?

Best,
Ista

On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 1:36 PM, David Wolfskill <r at catwhisker.org> wrote:
> Since ... hmmm.. May 2012, I've had a cron-initiated script running
> monthly to extract some data and generate some numeric tables and
> plots (in PNG format).
>
> In its "normal" mode, the script automagically sends its results
> to a small handful of managers on the first of each month.  Out of
> self-defense, I set up a "preview" run several days before the real
> one; the preview doesn't go quite as high in the management chain.
>
> This morning, I found a message in my mailbox from such a preview run:
>
> | Error in .External2(C_X11, paste("png::", filename, sep = ""), g$width,  :
> |   unable to start device PNG
> | Calls: gen_build_histogram -> png
> | In addition: Warning message:
> | In png(filename = fn, height = height, width = width, units = "in",  :
> |   unable to open connection to X11 display ''
> | Execution halted
>
> [This was running R-3.0.2_1 in FreeBSD/amd64 9.2-STABLE
> r262323M/262357:902506, built Sun Feb 23 05:14:37 PST 2014.]
>
> I admit that I haven't been following changes in R very closely --
> the script had been running reliably for over a year, and it's not
> one of the fires I've been fighting recently.
>
> But the implication -- that png() was suddenly[1] changed so that it
> requires the ability to connect to an X11 display -- seemed peculiar
> enough that I would have thought a quick search would lead me to soe
> discussion of a change of this magnitude, rationale, and what folks
> might do to mitigate the effects.
>
> Based on one message I found (from 02 Mar 2008!), I did take a look at
> "help png" output, and saw the reference there to bitmap().  I tried ...
> hacking ... my functions to use "bitmap(fn, ...)" instead of
> "png(filename = fn, ...)", but that looks as if it's leading me astray:
>
> | Error in strwidth(legend, units = "user", cex = cex, font = text.font) :
> |   family 'mono' not included in postscript() device
> | Calls: gen_build_histogram -> legend -> strwidth
> | Execution halted
>
>
> So... what's someone who wants to use R to generate PNG-format files
> from an environment that is bereft of X11 to do?
>
>
> 1: "Suddenly" because it *had* been working up to 01 Feb 2014, at least.
>
> [I'll be happy to sumamrize responses that aren't sent to the list.]
>
> Peace,
> david
> --
> David H. Wolfskill                              r at catwhisker.org
> Taliban: Evil cowards with guns afraid of truth from a 14-year old girl.
>
> See http://www.catwhisker.org/~david/publickey.gpg for my public key.
>
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