R.app crashes when trying to load tk@8.5.13_0+quartz

[andrekw@…]

Starting with a blank macports install, I installed R.app and its dependencies. The application crashes when trying to load the tk library, which was installed with quartz enabled and x11 disabled by default. Reinstalling tk and forcing the +x11 variant to be used fixes the issue.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

Can you attach the crash log?

[kjellpk (Kjell Konis)]

Maintainer here: this is a well-known issue with R and quartz tcltk. The work around is to use X11 tcltk.

[kjellpk (Kjell Konis)]

I submitted a patch to #35845 that removes tcltk from the default variants. Unfortunately this is the best short-term resolution I can think of.

[cooljeanius (Eric Gallager)]

Cc Me!

[larryv (Lawrence Velázquez)]

I removed +tcltk from the default variants of R-framework in r103614.

[chrstphrchvz (Christopher Chavez)]

Note that R-framework has been ​removed, and R would be a relevant port for this ticket.

If the tk +x11 workaround is still required, then I can open a pull request for R to add the following:

+PortGroup active_variants 1.1

[…]

 variant tcltk description {enable use of tcltk} {
+    # Known crash with Tk Aqua, see https://trac.macports.org/ticket/37107#comment:3
+    require_active_variants tk x11 quartz
+
     depends_lib-append      port:tcl \
                             port:tk
     configure.args-delete   --without-tcltk
     configure.args-append   --with-tcltk \
                             --with-tcl-config=${prefix}/lib/tclConfig.sh \
                             --with-tk-config=${prefix}/lib/tkConfig.sh
 }