R devel - Aug 2011 - Xll.options().

This question seemed to me to be more appropriate for r-devel
than for r-help.  My apologies if this is not the case.

Recently I installed ``cairo'' on my lap-top so that I could make
use of the (newish) polypath() function, with on-screen graphics.
(The polypath() function does not work with X11(type="Xlib").)

The installation went smoothly, X11(type="cairo") works just fine,
and polypath() works just fine.

However the default "type" for X11() remains "Xlib" rather
than
"cairo".

The help for X11.options() says (in respect of "type"):

     Default "cairo" where available and reliable, otherwise
"Xlib".

Now "cairo" is definitely available:

 > capabilities()["cairo"]
     cairo
      TRUE

and moreover it works (just fine!) when I do X11(type="cairo")
explicitly.

I know that I can set the default to be "cairo" in my .Rprofile, but
I am curious as to why "cairo" does not become the default
automatically.

Is it the case that "cairo" is ``not reliable'' under my
system?  It
***seems***
to be reliable.

 > sessionInfo()
R version 2.13.1 Patched (2011-07-17 r56404)
Platform: i686-pc-linux-gnu (32-bit)

locale:
  [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C
  [3] LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8        LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8
  [5] LC_MONETARY=C              LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
  [7] LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NAME=C
  [9] LC_ADDRESS=C               LC_TELEPHONE=C
[11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C

attached base packages:
[1] datasets  utils     stats     graphics  grDevices methods   base

other attached packages:
[1] misc_0.0-13     gtools_2.6.2    spatstat_1.23-1 deldir_0.0-15
[5] mgcv_1.7-6      fortunes_1.4-2  MASS_7.3-13

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
[1] grid_2.13.1        lattice_0.19-30    Matrix_0.999375-50 nlme_3.1-101

     cheers,

         Rolf Turner

Hi Rolf,

please excuse a short "top-reply":

As I see you are using an operating system (instead of Win..),
can you try in the shell

       echo 'X11.options()$type' | R --vanilla --slave

and does that really *not* report 
[1] "cairo"

??

(and BTW: Your subject had   tolower("LL")  instead of  "11"
)
>>>>> Rolf Turner <r.turner at auckland.ac.nz>
>>>>>     on Mon, 8 Aug 2011 12:49:44 +1200 writes:
    > This question seemed to me to be more appropriate for
    > r-devel than for r-help.  My apologies if this is not the
    > case.

    > Recently I installed ``cairo'' on my lap-top so that I
    > could make use of the (newish) polypath() function, with
    > on-screen graphics.  (The polypath() function does not
    > work with X11(type="Xlib").)

    > The installation went smoothly, X11(type="cairo") works
    > just fine, and polypath() works just fine.

    > However the default "type" for X11() remains "Xlib"
rather
    > than "cairo".

    > The help for X11.options() says (in respect of "type"):

    >      Default "cairo" where available and reliable,
    > otherwise "Xlib".

    > Now "cairo" is definitely available:

    >> capabilities()["cairo"]
    >      cairo TRUE

    > and moreover it works (just fine!) when I do
    > X11(type="cairo") explicitly.

    > I know that I can set the default to be "cairo" in my
    > .Rprofile, but I am curious as to why "cairo" does not
    > become the default automatically.

    > Is it the case that "cairo" is ``not reliable'' under
my
    > system?  It ***seems*** to be reliable.

    >> sessionInfo()
    > R version 2.13.1 Patched (2011-07-17 r56404) Platform:
    > i686-pc-linux-gnu (32-bit)

    > locale: [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 LC_NUMERIC=C [3]
    > LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8 LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8 [5]
    > LC_MONETARY=C LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8 [7]
    > LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8 LC_NAME=C [9] LC_ADDRESS=C
    > LC_TELEPHONE=C [11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
    > LC_IDENTIFICATION=C

    > attached base packages: [1] datasets utils stats graphics
    > grDevices methods base

    > other attached packages: [1] misc_0.0-13 gtools_2.6.2
    > spatstat_1.23-1 deldir_0.0-15 [5] mgcv_1.7-6
    > fortunes_1.4-2 MASS_7.3-13

    > loaded via a namespace (and not attached): [1] grid_2.13.1
    > lattice_0.19-30 Matrix_0.999375-50 nlme_3.1-101

    >      cheers,

    >          Rolf Turner

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