Trevor Davis
2022-Apr-01 21:55 UTC
[Rd] png() defaults to `type = "X11"` on R compiled with support for cairo (but no pango)
Dear R Team,
* I'm observing `png()` defaulting to `type = "X11"` in R compiled
with support for "cairo" (but not compiled with pango) run
in "vanilla" mode
* According to `help("png", package="grDevices")` :
> The default is set by
> ?getOption("bitmapType")? - the ?out of the box? default is
> ?"quartz"? or ?"cairo"? where available, otherwise
?"Xlib"?.
* "cairo" is indeed available so according to the documentation
it should be the "out-of-the-box" default but instead
"Xlib" is the "out-of-the-box" default.
* `X11()` also defaults to "Xlib" but `?X11` says the default is
"cairo"
only when R was built using "pangocairo" so this seems to match
the documentation since `./configure` says there was no pango.
* Perhaps R should instead default to
`type = "cairo"` for `X11()` and the bitmap devices
when "cairo" is supported even if there is no "pango"?
With `type="cairo"` I observe support for the new
R 4.1 and R 4.2 `{grid}` graphic features
and I avoid certain font ERRORs that hit me
when I use `type = "X11"`. Seems like "cairo"
would be the better default than "X11"?
Thanks!
Trevor
p.s. Possibly relevant information:
```> grSoftVersion()
cairo cairoFT pango
"1.16.0" "2.10.1/2.13.1"
""
libpng jpeg libtiff
"1.6.37" "8.0"
"LIBTIFF, Version 4.1.0"
```
Snippets from `./configure`:
```
checking whether pkg-config knows about cairo and pango... no
checking whether pkg-config knows about cairo... yes
checking whether cairo is >= 1.2 and works... yes
```
```
Interfaces supported: X11
External libraries: pcre2, readline, curl
Additional capabilities: PNG, JPEG, TIFF, NLS, cairo, ICU
Options enabled: shared BLAS, R profiling
Capabilities skipped:
Options not enabled: memory profiling
Recommended packages: yes
```
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