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...@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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