Martin Maechler
2026-Apr-18 15:18 UTC
[R-sig-Fedora] R-devel Fedora package not enough for R-core checking: fonts
>>>>> Martin Maechler >>>>> on Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:26:29 +0200 writes:>>>>> Tom Callaway >>>>> on Sat, 18 Apr 2026 05:04:23 -0400 writes: [ .................. ] > Indeed, already yesterday, I used Tom's suggestion (inside my > fedora:44 container), i.e., > dnf build-dep R > which to my positive surprise *did* install another dozen (or 2 > dozen?) packages. > Now, the above > dnf --enablerepo=fedora-source,updates-source builddep R > looked at ~ 36 packages for each of which it confirmed > Package "............." is already installed. > So far so good. > Indeed, I think having the ` dnf builddep <pkg> ` > power (and not forgetting about it!) > is sufficient, not only for me. >> I don't do as much maintenance on Fedora's R package these days as I used >> to (it's in better hands!) but if you think we're missing BuildRequires in >> how we build it and would like us to add some, please let us know here. > Thank you, I hope I will get to do so. > .. coming back to the above "so far so good": > After installing the builddep R // build-dep R > packages, I reran configure and my several 'make' (not just > 'make R') on the R sources, > and the "destasterous" problem I had sean earlier .. many many > warnings about non present fonts (TM font metrics) was *still* > present. > However, this time, I saved stdout+stderr output into two files, > one for configure, file name `configure.out`, > 2nd for my 'Rmakemore' (bash script running different 'make ...') > which produced a `Rmakemore.out` file with the following `ls -l`: > -rw-r--r-- 1 maechler <group> 219634112 17. Apr 23:17 Rmakemore.out > or (MM at v-lynne:inst-podman-f44_sys_lapack$ ) > wc Rmakemore.out > 4307787 38715447 219634112 Rmakemore.out > i.e., 4.3 million lines of output. > On my regular Fedora 42 "full desktop" environment, an analogous > Rmakemore.out gives > v-lynne:inst$ wc Rmakemore.out > 1374 7534 80990 Rmakemore.out > v-lynne:inst$ > Investigating the huge problematic Rmakemore.out : > $ wc -l Rmakemore.out > 4307787 Rmakemore.out > $ grep '^Missing character: There is no . in font nullfont!' Rmakemore.out | wc -l > 4295266 > $ > i.e., 99.7% of the output lines are like the above > on missing one character (the '.' in the grep pattern) in > "nullfont" ... > Ok, it may all be from (in the R build directory) > cd doc/manual > make pdf > I see in the outputs that Metafont is called there trying to > create missing fonts -- *BUT* seeming to fail. > There is a missfont.log file in there, with > $ wc missfont.log > 61 122 990 missfont.log > i.e., 61 lines, *but* many of them repeating : > MM at v-lynne:manual$ sort missfont.log | uniq -c > 10 mktextfm phvr8t > 12 mktextfm ptmb8t > 2 mktextfm ptmbc8t > 3 mktextfm ptmbi8t > 3 mktextfm ptmr8c > 22 mktextfm ptmr8t > 3 mktextfm ptmrc8t > 3 mktextfm ptmri8t > 3 mktextfm ptmro8t > MM at v-lynne:manual$ > i.e., it (metafont) tries 22 times to build the ptmr8t font > What package could this be missing? > Martin Further info: the above metafont calls etc are really "only" from cd doc/manual make pdf *However*, already the "simple" make check-devel runs (among quite a few other checks) also (the analogue of) 'R CMD check <pkg>' for all base packages, and this already gives an ERROR for all them due to latex / font / ... problems. Being able to run `make check-devel` is considered a minimum for an R developer setup of R. Martin I append the "R CMD check base" part from the output of make check-devel : ------------------------- checking package 'base' * using log directory '/u/maechler/R/D/devel-ver/rd-clean-clang22/inst-podman-f44_sys_lapack/tests/base.Rcheck' * using R Under development (unstable) (2026-04-16 r89906) * using platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu * R was compiled by clang version 22.1.1 (Fedora 22.1.1-2.fc44) flang version 22.1.1 (Fedora 22.1.1-2.fc44) * running under: Fedora Linux 44 (Container Image) * using session charset: ASCII * current time: 2026-04-18 14:42:47 UTC * using option '--no-build-vignettes' * looks like 'base' is a base package * skipping installation test * checking package directory ... OK * checking DESCRIPTION meta-information ... OK * checking top-level files ... OK * checking for left-over files ... OK * checking index information ... OK * checking package subdirectories ... OK * checking dependencies in R code ... OK * checking S3 generic/method consistency ... OK * checking replacement functions ... OK * checking foreign function calls ... OK * checking R code for possible problems ... OK * checking Rd files ... OK * checking Rd metadata ... OK * checking Rd cross-references ... INFO Packages unavailable to check Rd xrefs: 'round', 'date', 'chron' * checking for missing documentation entries ... OK * checking for code/documentation mismatches ... OK * checking Rd \usage sections ... OK * checking Rd contents ... OK * checking examples ... SKIPPED * checking PDF version of manual ... WARNING LaTeX errors when creating PDF version. This typically indicates Rd problems. LaTeX errors found: ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/10=ptmr8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not found . <to be read again> relax l.6 \begin{document} ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/24.88=ptmr8t at 24.88pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not f ound. <to be read again> relax l.7 \chapter*{} ! Font T1/ptm/b/n/24.88=ptmb8t at 24.88pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not f ound. <to be read again> relax l.7 \chapter*{} ! Font T1/ptm/b/n/10=ptmb8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not found . <to be read again> relax l.9 {\textbf{\huge Package `base'} ! Font T1/ptm/b/n/20.74=ptmb8t at 20.74pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not f ound. <to be read again> relax l.9 {\textbf{\huge Package `base'} ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/12=ptmr8t at 12.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not found . <to be read again> relax l.10 \par\bigskip{\large ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/14.4=ptmr8t at 14.4pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not fou nd. <to be read again> relax l.1 ...sline {subsection}{base-package}{1}{page.1} ! Font T1/ptm/b/n/14.4=ptmb8t at 14.4pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not fou nd. <to be read again> relax l.1 ...sline {subsection}{base-package}{1}{page.1} ! Font T1/ptm/m/sl/10=ptmro8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not fou nd. <to be read again> relax l.80 ...entsline {subsection}{cumsum}{96}{page.96} ! Font T1/ptm/m/it/10=ptmri8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not fou nd. <to be read again> relax l.28 ...e}{The R Base Package}{base.Rdash.package} ! Font T1/phv/m/n/10=phvr8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not found . <to be read again> relax l.37 ... contains the basic functions which let \R ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/9=ptmr8t at 9.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not found. <to be read again> relax l.95 \begin{ExampleCode} ! Font TS1/ptm/m/n/10=ptmr8c at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not foun d. <to be read again> relax l.387 \item{ ! Font T1/ptm/b/it/10=ptmbi8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not fou nd. <to be read again> relax l.3555 ...of-range \emph{vs} ``Balanced'' POSIXlt} ! Font T1/ptm/m/sc/10=ptmrc8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not fou nd. <to be read again> relax l.5018 ...iteration of the debugger \acronym{REPL} ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/7=ptmr8t at 7.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not found. <to be read again> relax l.39695 \frac{\Gamma'(x)}{\Gamma(x)}}{} ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/5=ptmr8t at 5.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not found. <to be read again> relax l.39695 \frac{\Gamma'(x)}{\Gamma(x)}}{} * checking PDF version of manual without index ... ERROR * DONE Status: 1 ERROR, 1 WARNING See '/u/maechler/R/D/devel-ver/rd-clean-clang22/inst-podman-f44_sys_lapack/tests/base.Rcheck/00check.log' for details.
Tom Callaway
2026-Apr-20 14:05 UTC
[R-sig-Fedora] R-devel Fedora package not enough for R-core checking: fonts
Good catch. I've added these tex font BuildRequires in R-4.5.3-2 (in Rawhide). For your immediate needs, this will install the missing fonts: dnf install texlive-times texlive-helvetica Thanks, ~spot On Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 11:18?AM Martin Maechler <maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch> wrote:> >>>>> Martin Maechler > >>>>> on Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:26:29 +0200 writes: > > >>>>> Tom Callaway > >>>>> on Sat, 18 Apr 2026 05:04:23 -0400 writes: > > [ .................. ] > > > Indeed, already yesterday, I used Tom's suggestion (inside my > > fedora:44 container), i.e., > > > dnf build-dep R > > > which to my positive surprise *did* install another dozen (or 2 > > dozen?) packages. > > > Now, the above > > > dnf --enablerepo=fedora-source,updates-source builddep R > > > looked at ~ 36 packages for each of which it confirmed > > > Package "............." is already installed. > > > So far so good. > > > > Indeed, I think having the ` dnf builddep <pkg> ` > > power (and not forgetting about it!) > > is sufficient, not only for me. > > >> I don't do as much maintenance on Fedora's R package these days as > I used > >> to (it's in better hands!) but if you think we're missing > BuildRequires in > >> how we build it and would like us to add some, please let us know > here. > > > Thank you, I hope I will get to do so. > > .. coming back to the above "so far so good": > > After installing the builddep R // build-dep R > > packages, I reran configure and my several 'make' (not just > > 'make R') on the R sources, > > and the "destasterous" problem I had sean earlier .. many many > > warnings about non present fonts (TM font metrics) was *still* > > present. > > However, this time, I saved stdout+stderr output into two files, > > one for configure, file name `configure.out`, > > 2nd for my 'Rmakemore' (bash script running different 'make ...') > > which produced a `Rmakemore.out` file with the following `ls -l`: > > > -rw-r--r-- 1 maechler <group> 219634112 17. Apr 23:17 Rmakemore.out > > or (MM at v-lynne:inst-podman-f44_sys_lapack$ ) > > wc Rmakemore.out > > 4307787 38715447 219634112 Rmakemore.out > > > i.e., 4.3 million lines of output. > > > On my regular Fedora 42 "full desktop" environment, an analogous > > Rmakemore.out gives > > > v-lynne:inst$ wc Rmakemore.out > > 1374 7534 80990 Rmakemore.out > > v-lynne:inst$ > > > Investigating the huge problematic Rmakemore.out : > > $ wc -l Rmakemore.out > > 4307787 Rmakemore.out > > $ grep '^Missing character: There is no . in font nullfont!' > Rmakemore.out | wc -l > > 4295266 > > $ > > i.e., 99.7% of the output lines are like the above > > on missing one character (the '.' in the grep pattern) in > > "nullfont" ... > > > Ok, it may all be from (in the R build directory) > > > cd doc/manual > > make pdf > > > I see in the outputs that Metafont is called there trying to > > create missing fonts -- *BUT* seeming to fail. > > There is a missfont.log file in there, with > > > $ wc missfont.log > > 61 122 990 missfont.log > > > i.e., 61 lines, *but* many of them repeating : > > > MM at v-lynne:manual$ sort missfont.log | uniq -c > > 10 mktextfm phvr8t > > 12 mktextfm ptmb8t > > 2 mktextfm ptmbc8t > > 3 mktextfm ptmbi8t > > 3 mktextfm ptmr8c > > 22 mktextfm ptmr8t > > 3 mktextfm ptmrc8t > > 3 mktextfm ptmri8t > > 3 mktextfm ptmro8t > > MM at v-lynne:manual$ > > > i.e., it (metafont) tries 22 times to build the ptmr8t font > > > What package could this be missing? > > > Martin > > Further info: > > the above metafont calls etc are really "only" from > > cd doc/manual > make pdf > > *However*, already the "simple" > > make check-devel > > runs (among quite a few other checks) also (the analogue of) > 'R CMD check <pkg>' for all base packages, > and this already gives an ERROR for all them due to latex / font / ... > problems. > > Being able to run `make check-devel` > is considered a minimum for an R developer setup of R. > > Martin > > I append the "R CMD check base" part from the output of > make check-devel : > > ------------------------- > checking package 'base' > * using log directory > '/u/maechler/R/D/devel-ver/rd-clean-clang22/inst-podman-f44_sys_lapack/tests/base.Rcheck' > * using R Under development (unstable) (2026-04-16 r89906) > * using platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu > * R was compiled by > clang version 22.1.1 (Fedora 22.1.1-2.fc44) > flang version 22.1.1 (Fedora 22.1.1-2.fc44) > * running under: Fedora Linux 44 (Container Image) > * using session charset: ASCII > * current time: 2026-04-18 14:42:47 UTC > * using option '--no-build-vignettes' > * looks like 'base' is a base package > * skipping installation test > * checking package directory ... OK > * checking DESCRIPTION meta-information ... OK > * checking top-level files ... OK > * checking for left-over files ... OK > * checking index information ... OK > * checking package subdirectories ... OK > * checking dependencies in R code ... OK > * checking S3 generic/method consistency ... OK > * checking replacement functions ... OK > * checking foreign function calls ... OK > * checking R code for possible problems ... OK > * checking Rd files ... OK > * checking Rd metadata ... OK > * checking Rd cross-references ... INFO > Packages unavailable to check Rd xrefs: 'round', 'date', 'chron' > * checking for missing documentation entries ... OK > * checking for code/documentation mismatches ... OK > * checking Rd \usage sections ... OK > * checking Rd contents ... OK > * checking examples ... SKIPPED > * checking PDF version of manual ... WARNING > LaTeX errors when creating PDF version. > This typically indicates Rd problems. > LaTeX errors found: > ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/10=ptmr8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not > found > . > <to be read again> > relax > l.6 \begin{document} > ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/24.88=ptmr8t at 24.88pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file > not f > ound. > <to be read again> > relax > l.7 \chapter*{} > ! Font T1/ptm/b/n/24.88=ptmb8t at 24.88pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file > not f > ound. > <to be read again> > relax > l.7 \chapter*{} > ! Font T1/ptm/b/n/10=ptmb8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not > found > . > <to be read again> > relax > l.9 {\textbf{\huge Package `base'} > ! Font T1/ptm/b/n/20.74=ptmb8t at 20.74pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file > not f > ound. > <to be read again> > relax > l.9 {\textbf{\huge Package `base'} > ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/12=ptmr8t at 12.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not > found > . > <to be read again> > relax > l.10 \par\bigskip{\large > ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/14.4=ptmr8t at 14.4pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file > not fou > nd. > <to be read again> > relax > l.1 ...sline {subsection}{base-package}{1}{page.1} > ! Font T1/ptm/b/n/14.4=ptmb8t at 14.4pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file > not fou > nd. > <to be read again> > relax > l.1 ...sline {subsection}{base-package}{1}{page.1} > ! Font T1/ptm/m/sl/10=ptmro8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file > not fou > nd. > <to be read again> > relax > l.80 ...entsline {subsection}{cumsum}{96}{page.96} > ! Font T1/ptm/m/it/10=ptmri8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file > not fou > nd. > <to be read again> > relax > l.28 ...e}{The R Base Package}{base.Rdash.package} > ! Font T1/phv/m/n/10=phvr8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not > found > . > <to be read again> > relax > l.37 ... contains the basic functions which let \R > ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/9=ptmr8t at 9.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not > found. > <to be read again> > relax > l.95 \begin{ExampleCode} > > ! Font TS1/ptm/m/n/10=ptmr8c at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not > foun > d. > <to be read again> > relax > l.387 \item{ > ! Font T1/ptm/b/it/10=ptmbi8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file > not fou > nd. > <to be read again> > relax > l.3555 ...of-range \emph{vs} ``Balanced'' POSIXlt} > ! Font T1/ptm/m/sc/10=ptmrc8t at 10.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file > not fou > nd. > <to be read again> > relax > l.5018 ...iteration of the debugger \acronym{REPL} > ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/7=ptmr8t at 7.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not > found. > <to be read again> > relax > l.39695 \frac{\Gamma'(x)}{\Gamma(x)}}{} > > ! Font T1/ptm/m/n/5=ptmr8t at 5.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not > found. > <to be read again> > relax > l.39695 \frac{\Gamma'(x)}{\Gamma(x)}}{} > > * checking PDF version of manual without index ... ERROR > * DONE > > Status: 1 ERROR, 1 WARNING > See > > '/u/maechler/R/D/devel-ver/rd-clean-clang22/inst-podman-f44_sys_lapack/tests/base.Rcheck/00check.log' > for details. > > _______________________________________________ > R-SIG-Fedora mailing list > R-SIG-Fedora at r-project.org > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-fedora >[[alternative HTML version deleted]]