R devel - Jan 2007 - possible bug: dev.copy / could not find any X11 fonts

Hi,

I am experiencing something strange, and thought I would ask before
reporting a bug.  I trimmed it down to a self-contained example,
attached as an R file.  The purpose of the functions is to save the
plots into a ps file and simultaneously plot them on an x11 device,
but don't open a new one if there is already one opened (I don't want
the repositioning / flicker).

When running the code:
> source("plotf.r")
> plotf(avc,1)
Error in dev.copy(which = x11dev) : could not find any X11 fonts
Check that the Font Path is correct.

The error message reappears whenever I switch to the plot window.  A
partial plot is in the x11 window.

When called in other contexts, plotting functions work perfectly, so I
don't see what the problem is.

Thanks,

Tamas


version information:
               _                           
platform       i486-pc-linux-gnu           
arch           i486                        
os             linux-gnu                   
system         i486, linux-gnu             
status                                     
major          2                           
minor          4.1                         
year           2006                        
month          12                          
day            18                          
svn rev        40228                       
language       R                           
version.string R version 2.4.1 (2006-12-18)
-------------- next part --------------
a <- 1:5
avc <- list(v=a,cons=a,saving=a)

findx11dev <- function(create=TRUE) {
  devices <- dev.list()
  x11dev <- which(names(devices)=="X11")
  if (length(x11dev)==0) {
    if (create) {
      x11()
      dev.cur()
    } else {
      NULL
    }
  } else {
    devices[tail(x11dev,1)]
  }
}

plotf <- function(avc,k,...) {
  plotm <- function(m, ...)
    plot(1:5,m,type="l",...)
  ## open ps device
  postscript(sprintf("plot-%03d.eps",k))
  psdev <- dev.cur()
  dev.control("enable")
  ## plot
  layout(1:3)
  plotm(avc$v, main="value", ylab="v")
  plotm(avc$cons, main="consumption", ylab="c")
  plotm(avc$saving, main="saving", ylab="s")
  ## copy & close ps device
  x11dev <- findx11dev()
  dev.set(psdev)
  dev.copy(which=x11dev)
  dev.off(psdev)  
}

Tamas K Papp wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am experiencing something strange, and thought I would ask before
> reporting a bug.  I trimmed it down to a self-contained example,
> attached as an R file.  The purpose of the functions is to save the
> plots into a ps file and simultaneously plot them on an x11 device,
> but don't open a new one if there is already one opened (I don't
want
> the repositioning / flicker).
>
> When running the code:
>
>   
>> source("plotf.r")
>> plotf(avc,1)
>>     
> Error in dev.copy(which = x11dev) : could not find any X11 fonts
> Check that the Font Path is correct.
>
> The error message reappears whenever I switch to the plot window.  A
> partial plot is in the x11 window.
>
> When called in other contexts, plotting functions work perfectly, so I
> don't see what the problem is.
>
>   
Annoying, but your example works for me, so I suspect that the problem 
is nevertheless a setup issue at your end....   I would guess that the 
culprit is the tiny font used to label the axes. Things like this 
sometimes happen when you are missing 75dpi fontset. If you fire up 
xfontsel, can you find

-adobe-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-8-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1

?
(available pixel sizes should be 8,10,11,12,14,17,18,20,24,25,34)
> Thanks,
>
> Tamas
>
>
> version information:
>                _                           
> platform       i486-pc-linux-gnu           
> arch           i486                        
> os             linux-gnu                   
> system         i486, linux-gnu             
> status                                     
> major          2                           
> minor          4.1                         
> year           2006                        
> month          12                          
> day            18                          
> svn rev        40228                       
> language       R                           
> version.string R version 2.4.1 (2006-12-18)
>   
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>

Peter Dalgaard wrote:
<snipped>
> Annoying, but your example works for me, so I suspect that the problem 
> is nevertheless a setup issue at your end....   I would guess that the 
> culprit is the tiny font used to label the axes. Things like this 
> sometimes happen when you are missing 75dpi fontset. If you fire up 
> xfontsel, can you find
> 
> -adobe-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-8-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
> 
> ?
> (available pixel sizes should be 8,10,11,12,14,17,18,20,24,25,34)
The examples also works for me, and I was wondering about similiar
issues; but my thought is more along the line of the scalable PS
Type 1 fonts being missing. (The Type 1 fonts is scalable and functions
as catch-all for any size). Given the vintage of it - i486-* probably
indicates that the CPU is pre-pentium or the linux distribution is,
so the X server may not be able to or configured to use PS Type1 fonts.
On my X server I have both the -adobe-helvetica-* bitmap fonts,
and also it as PS Type 1 (The URW clone of the 13 standard
postscript fonts is carried by ghostcript and also occasionally
carried by or made available on some linux distro to Xfree/Xorg)

HTL
>> version information:
>>                _                           
>> platform       i486-pc-linux-gnu           
>> arch           i486                        
>> os             linux-gnu                   
>> system         i486, linux-gnu             
>> status                                     
>> major          2                           
>> minor          4.1                         
>> year           2006                        
>> month          12                          
>> day            18                          
>> svn rev        40228                       
>> language       R                           
>> version.string R version 2.4.1 (2006-12-18)
>>   
>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>>
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel

2007/1/31, Tamas K Papp <tpapp at princeton.edu>:
> Hi,
>
> I am experiencing something strange, and thought I would ask before
> reporting a bug.  I trimmed it down to a self-contained example,
> attached as an R file.  The purpose of the functions is to save the
> plots into a ps file and simultaneously plot them on an x11 device,
> but don't open a new one if there is already one opened (I don't
want
> the repositioning / flicker).
>
> When running the code:
>
> > source("plotf.r")
> > plotf(avc,1)
> Error in dev.copy(which = x11dev) : could not find any X11 fonts
> Check that the Font Path is correct.
>
> The error message reappears whenever I switch to the plot window.  A
> partial plot is in the x11 window.
>
> When called in other contexts, plotting functions work perfectly, so I
> don't see what the problem is.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tamas
>
>
> version information:
>                _
> platform       i486-pc-linux-gnu
> arch           i486
> os             linux-gnu
> system         i486, linux-gnu
> status
> major          2
> minor          4.1
> year           2006
> month          12
> day            18
> svn rev        40228
> language       R
> version.string R version 2.4.1 (2006-12-18)
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>
>
>
I see this error last time in Ubuntu Edgy. Check your FontPath in
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.