gnuplot does not work anymore

[ReneSci]

Just went from

(%o134)	build_info(version="branch_5_47_base_1431_g25eb40314",timestamp="2024-10-22 23:55:51",host="x86_64-w64-mingw32",lisp_name="SBCL",lisp_version="2.4.9",maxima_userdir="C:/Users/xxx/maxima",maxima_tempdir="C:/Users/xxxx/AppData/Local/Temp",maxima_objdir="C:/Users/xxx/maxima/binary/branch_5_47_base_1431_g25eb40314/sbcl/2_4_9",maxima_frontend="wxMaxima",maxima_frontend_version="24.08.0_DevelopmentSnapshot_MSW")

to the newest nightly build:

(%o143)	build_info(version="branch_5_47_base_1500_g32a79c344",timestamp="2024-11-28 23:52:59",host="x86_64-w64-mingw32",lisp_name="SBCL",lisp_version="2.4.10",maxima_userdir="C:/Users/xx/maxima",maxima_tempdir="C:/Users/xx/AppData/Local/Temp",maxima_objdir="C:/Users/xx/maxima/binary/branch_5_47_base_1500_g32a79c344/sbcl/2_4_10",maxima_frontend="wxMaxima",maxima_frontend_version="24.11.0_DevelopmentSnapshot_MSW")

Now

• wxdraw2d just gives empty plots
• "Pop out interactively" does not work

In the former build this works like a charm.
Sorry for being so long time between these two test. Hope you can trace back to find where it vent wrong.

[daute]

Hi,
Some days ago I switched in the Maxima Windows installer to Gnuplot 6.0.1 (instead of Gnuplot 5), that might be the cause.

However, both issues you mentioned, work here without problems. (Same nightly build, Windows 11).

Best regards, Wolfgang

[ReneSci]

Hmmmm.... I downloaded and installed the latest release from https://sourceforge.net/projects/maxima/ (with gnuplot 6.0)

build_info(version="5.47.0",timestamp="2023-06-02 20:31:42",host="x86_64-w64-mingw32",lisp_name="SBCL",lisp_version="2.3.2",maxima_userdir="C:/Users/xx/maxima",maxima_tempdir="C:/Users/xxx/AppData/Local/Temp",maxima_objdir="C:/Users/xxx/maxima/binary/5_47_0/sbcl/2_3_2",maxima_frontend="wxMaxima",maxima_frontend_version="23.05.1_MSW")

(Why is the timestamp = 2023-06-02 20:31:42 ?? )

And the plot worked again, as you wrote Wolfgang. The "Pop out" anso worked, however with the gnuplot with no "command window" option. It seems like this setting:

2.3.5 Opening gnuplot’s command console in plot windows

On MS Windows, if in Maxima’s variable gnuplot_command “gnuplot” is replaced by “wgnuplot”, gnuplot offers the possibility to open a console window, where gnuplot commands can be entered into. Unfortunately, enabling this feature causes gnuplot to “steal” the keyboard focus for a short time every time a plot is prepared.

Doesen't work. Also the setting:

Seems to be removed.

I then downloaded the latest nightly build

(%o1)	build_info(version="branch_5_47_base_1504_gea306d7b8",timestamp="2024-12-01 23:52:30",host="x86_64-w64-mingw32",lisp_name="SBCL",lisp_version="2.4.10",maxima_userdir="C:/Users/xxx/maxima",maxima_tempdir="C:/Users/xxx/AppData/Local/Temp",maxima_objdir="C:/Users/xxx/maxima/binary/branch_5_47_base_1504_gea306d7b8/sbcl/2_4_10",maxima_frontend="wxMaxima",maxima_frontend_version="24.11.0_DevelopmentSnapshot_MSW")

Then both the above setting and the "command" version gnuplot pup-out worked again :-)

[ReneSci]

Update
Tried to open an exixting worksheet with the latest nightly build

(%o1)	build_info(version="branch_5_47_base_1504_gea306d7b8",timestamp="2024-12-01 23:52:30",host="x86_64-w64-mingw32",lisp_name="SBCL",lisp_version="2.4.10",maxima_userdir="C:/Users/xxx/maxima",maxima_tempdir="C:/Users/xxx/AppData/Local/Temp",maxima_objdir="C:/Users/xxx/maxima/binary/branch_5_47_base_1504_gea306d7b8/sbcl/2_4_10",maxima_frontend="wxMaxima",maxima_frontend_version="24.11.0_DevelopmentSnapshot_MSW")

Then

1. Previously - an existing plot could be opened with "pop-put interactively" - now that does not work
2. wxdraw start to give empty plots again

reverting back to

(%o1)	build_info(version="branch_5_47_base_1431_g25eb40314",timestamp="2024-10-22 23:55:51",host="x86_64-w64-mingw32",lisp_name="SBCL",lisp_version="2.4.9",maxima_userdir="C:/Users/xxx/maxima",maxima_tempdir="C:/Users/xxx/AppData/Local/Temp",maxima_objdir="C:/Users/xxx/maxima/binary/branch_5_47_base_1431_g25eb40314/sbcl/2_4_9",maxima_frontend="wxMaxima",maxima_frontend_version="24.08.0_DevelopmentSnapshot_MSW")

Then both work again

PS the exixting worksheet has an
gnuplot_command : wgnuplot
in it

[daute]

Hi Rene,

Concerning the release from https://sourceforge.net/projects/maxima/ - Maxima's latest release was in June 2023; and the Windows installer was build from that (unpatched) sources (and contain exactly the software, which was 'current' at the time of the Maxima release (for 64bit: Gnuplot 5.4.6, SBCL 2.3.2, wxMaxima 23.05.1, ...).

I thought about re-releasing the installer with updated bundled software, but that wouldn't be a "Maxima 5.47.0" installer.
I still hope, that a new Maxima release will happen soon (which would contain the additional software, which is current now. The exact version of the included software in the Windows installer is part of the Maxima sourcecode, so that it can be build completely automatically, e.g. for wxMaxima 24.11.0 for the current Maxima commit: https://sourceforge.net/p/maxima/code/ci/ea306d7b/tree/crosscompile-windows/wxmaxima/CMakeLists.txt

For wxMaxima I build wxMaxima-only Windows installers after most wxMaxima releases.

I tested the 'Popout-feature' of a current Maxima+wxMaxima installer (which is the nightly build (build fully automatically), you can download from my website), and that seem to work properly, if wxMaxima is configured to use wgnuplot. (Configure->Maxima->Gnuplot flavor). Will need to check, why (and if) these two options are really necessary...

And thank you very much for your testing and contributions,
Wolfgang

[ReneSci]

"And thank you very much for your testing and contributions" - Of course. But you are putting the large amount of work into wxMaxima. Unfortunately I am not able to doing the programming (I left programming in the Pascal age ... )

I found out that it was gnuplot that have changed:

Quite often (nearly always) I use a standard setting for my plots:

user_preamble  = [ "set size 1, 1 ",  "set xtics out", "set mxtics 10", "set ytics out",   "set y2tics out", "set font 'Areal, 8 '", "set zero 10^-100",  "set format y '%0.3se%03S'",  "set format y2 '%0.3se%03S'",   "unset clip", /* "set autoscale y",   */ "set autoscale x",  "set autoscale y2",  "set termoption enhanced" , "set encoding utf8" ,  "set mxtics 5" , "set mytics 5", "set my2tics 5"],
   font  = "Sans",
   font_size = 12,
    title = PlotTitle,
    xlabel = PlotXlabel,
    ylabel  = PlotYlabel)

It seems there was something the new gnuplot did not like. So I opened the gnuplot command window (in the pop-out interactively) and tried the settings I use in the "user_preample" one by one:

gnuplot> set xtics out
gnuplot> replot
gnuplot> set mxtics 10
gnuplot> replot
gnuplot> set ytics out
gnuplot> replot
gnuplot> set y2tics out
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]
gnuplot> set font 'Areal, 8 '
             ^
         unrecognized option - see 'help set'.

gnuplot> set zero 10^-100
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]
gnuplot> set format y '%0.3se%03S'
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]
gnuplot> unset clip
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]
gnuplot> set autoscale x
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]
gnuplot> set mxtics 5
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]
gnuplot> set my2tics 5
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]
gnuplot> set size 1, 1
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]
gnuplot> set termoption enhanced
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]
gnuplot> set encoding utf8
gnuplot> replot
         warning: y2 axis range undefined or overflow, resetting to [0:0]

It seems like the new gnuplot does not like the "set font" thing anymore.

My question: Would it be possible to show the gnuplot error messages and warning instead of just an empty square (that would be a great help !! )

This is not very informative:

Could this also be the reason that if I open an old worksheet, the "pup-put interactively" dosen't work directly on the existing plots as was previously the case.

[ReneSci]

By the way - can you make sense of this:

[daute]

Concerning set font:

If I understand the Gnuplot documentation right, one must set (at least in Gnuplot 6), which font size one wants to set, e.g.

set label font "Arial, 15"   # or xlabel, ylabel, ... if the size/font of the xlabel should be different to the ylabel
set title font "MyFontname, 25"
set tics font "MyOtherFont, 10"     # or xtics, yticks, ...

Seems plausible, the title is usually printed in a larger font than the tics. (And the font is probably called Arial, not Areal)

But that seems to be a Gnuplot issue, not a wxMaxima problem.

---

Concerning the cmd.exe problem:

Well, cmd.exe is a part of Windows. Can you start cmd.exe itself? It is a command interpreter, used by Maxima to interpret some command line parameters and e.g. being able to use different Lisp interpreters. I just found some Google results, that maybe a virus or antivirus program may be the cause...

Best regards, Wolfgang

[ReneSci]

I can start the cmd.exe manually, so its probably our antivirus or other protections :-)

Thanks for help with the font. Where did you find it ? - I couldn't :-(

[daute]

Concerning the font - thats a Gnuplot issue, so in the Gnuplot manual.
Concerning cmd.exe - should that be: you couldn't start cmd.exe manually? Otherwise the rest of the sentence does not make much sense.
If that works, does "Command Line Maxima" work? Maybe it is one of the Lisp compilers although the error message suggest cmd.exe as source of the problem...
Best regards, Wolfgang

[ReneSci]

cmd.exe works fine - no plroblems there.
The "Application was unable to start......" seems only to occur when I want to open an exiting worksheet by double clicking on it.
If I just start wxMaxima and then open a worksheet there is no problem.

By the way: If I open wxMaxima with an empty worksheet and just saves this empty worksheet - closes wxMaxima, and then tries to open the empty worksheet:

PS: can some of the setting, I have given in "untitled.wxmx" be useful as examples in your documentation ?

• I always have them as the first thing in my worksheets...
  wxMaxima_test.zip

Best regards - and Merry Christmas
Rene'

[daute]

I opened separate issues for the reported issues in the comments; it is better to have own issues for these unrelated problems (they have nothing to do with a Gnuplot problem...).
Best regards, Wolfgang

[ReneSci]

Thanks