xorg-server spins after some requests from R

[highbwcoder@…]

These series of steps hang X11 from Macport's R, but not Apple's R.app in /Applications.

These steps reproduce the error.

plot(c(1,2,3),c(4,5,6))

X11 window becomes active. Press [Apple]+[Tab] to go back to the terminal window.

dev.new()

Second X11 window becomes active. Press [Apple]+[Tab] to go back to the terminal window.

Making sure you are in the terminal and you are not holding down any keys, press [Apple]+[Tab] again to try to go to X11. The X11 is no longer responding!

This has been cross-posted on ​http://stackoverflow.com/q/10045109/429850 and on the r-sig-mac mailing list.

[jeremyhu (Jeremy Huddleston Sequoia)]

Replying to highbwcoder@…:

These series of steps hang X11 from Macport's R, but not Apple's R.app in /Applications.

What do you mean "Apple's R.app in /Applications" ... Apple doesn't provide R.app.

Making sure you are in the terminal and you are not holding down any keys, press [Apple]+[Tab] again to try to go to X11. The X11 is no longer responding!

Can you please attach a spindump. From Terminal, run:

sudo spindump X11.bin

[highbwcoder@…]

Spindump output from

$ sudo spindump X11.bin
Password:
Sampling all processes for 10 seconds with 10 milliseconds of run time between samples
Focusing on X11.bin [49331]
Sampling completed, processing symbols...
Spindump analysis written to file /tmp/X11.bin_49331.spindump.txt

attached

[jeremyhu (Jeremy Huddleston Sequoia)]

You're not using xorg-server. You're using Apple's X11.app. That is a known bug which is fixed in xorg-server. Use /Applications/MacPorts/X11.app instead.

[highbwcoder@…]

How do I use the Macport's X11. It seems it is not installed by R by default.

$ port rdeps r | grep xorg-server
$

I currently do not have it either

$ ls /Applications/MacPorts/X*
ls: /Applications/MacPorts/X*: No such file or directory
$ port installed xorg-server*
None of the specified ports are installed.
$

I am installing xorg-server and xorg-server-devel now, but do I need to configure R to use it? Should xorg-server be a dependency for R?

[jeremyhu (Jeremy Huddleston Sequoia)]

R is an X11 client. It will use whichever X11 server you tell it to use. Install the xorg-server port and launch /Applications/MacPorts/X11.app or go get the latest XQuartz release from xquartz.macosforge.org and launch /Applications/Utilities/XQuartz.app

[highbwcoder@…]

Thanks! I installed the xorg-server port. If I run /Applications/MacPorts/X11.app, run the Terminal from within X11, and run R in this terminal, it uses the Macports x11. This works fine.

However, if I run R from the regular terminal, it still uses Apple's X11, which hangs. How do I "tell R which X11 to use"?

[kjell.konis@…]

R maintainer here: you could also consider using the R provided in the R-framework port. It uses the Quartz device by default and hence avoids the need to run an X server.