[OS X TeX] GNUPLOT on Mac

Michael Sharpe msharpe at ucsd.edu
Wed Aug 13 06:57:48 CEST 2008


The most recent version of {\tt gnuplot} may be found at \url{http://www.gnuplot.info/ 
}, but may require you to build from source code. Because some of the  
required libraries are not standard issue on Mac OS X, it is much  
easier to install a binary distribution. One good source for this is  
{\tt Octave}, a (free) GNU program possessing many features in common  
with Matlab, which uses {\tt gnuplot} for graphical output. {\tt  
Octave} is available from \url{http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/}.  
The installation of {\tt gnuplot} is routine, but for testing  
purposes, it would be a good idea to install {\tt aquaterm}, which is  
required for visual output from {\tt gnuplot}. One way to get {\tt  
aquaterm} is to first install Macports, from \url{http://www.macports.org/ 
}, then install Porticus, version 1.4 or better, which acts as a front  
end to MacPorts. It is freeware, available from \url{http://porticus.alittledrop.com/ 
}. Once you have Porticus, run it and select `All Ports', then `Aqua',  
then `aquaterm' and hit the Install button.

I can't help with Qgfe.

Michael

On Aug 12, 2008, at 8:49 PM, Alain Schremmer wrote:

>
> On May 23, 2007, at 2:55 PM, Aaron Jackson wrote:
>
>> Aquaterm is a small app that other programs can use to display  
>> graphical output.  Gnuplot does not require Aquaterm, however  
>> installing it is highly recommended.  Gnuplot has to display plots  
>> somehow, so it uses Aquaterm if it is available, if not it can use  
>> X11.  If you never want to see the plots (within gnuplot itself),  
>> then gnuplot can save them directly to disk as LaTeX, pdf, eps,  
>> png,... files, which means, in this case, that X11 and Aquaterm are  
>> not needed.
>>
>> Gnuplot is very easy to compile.  A simple
>>
>> ./configure
>> make
>> make check
>> make install
>>
>> should do the trick (assuming that you have Aquaterm installed,  
>> otherwise skip the make check step).  If the configure stops for  
>> any reason (perhaps a missing readline lib if I remember), you can  
>> disable the check that is failing (type ./configure --help for  
>> options).  You wont need it anyway if you are not directly using  
>> gnuplot.
>
> As you may, or may not, recall, I am install-challenged.
>
> A couple of years ago, with the off list help of Bongard, I  
> installed gnuplot with Aquaterm and Qgfe which worked nice but, at  
> the time, I was just getting prepared. Now that I need to use it, I  
> have gone from 10.3 to 10.4 I downloaded and "installed"
>
> —Gnuplot-4.0.0.dmg
>
> —QtMac410-Tiger-Mini (in the Qt4.1.0_MINI(MacOSX 10.4.x) folder  
> there is no application.)
>
> —Qgfe-1.0 (But I think that what I installed, xm1math, is only a  
> library as I couldn't find the application anywhere. It says  
> somewhere that the API is in gnuplot.
>
> But then, in the terminal, I got:
>
> Last login: Tue Aug 12 09:31:09 on console
> Welcome to Darwin!
> You have mail.
> juju-gpadnom(*):~ gpadnom$ which gnuplot
> /usr/local/bin/gnuplot
> juju-gpadnom:~ gpadnom$ echo $PATH
> /bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/texbin:/usr/local/bin
> juju-gpadnom:~ gpadnom$ export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
> juju-gpadnom:~ gpadnom$ gnuplot
> dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libaquaterm.1.0.0.dylib
>  Referenced from: /usr/local/bin/gnuplot
>  Reason: image not found
> Trace/BPT trap
>
> I did find the following alias:
>
> MacIntosh HD > Users > gpadnom > libaquaterm.1.0.0.dylib
>
> but had no idea what to do after that. I then went to the web and  
> found that this seemed to be well-known, e.g.
>
> 	http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/1849
>
> 	http://www.nabble.com/forum/Search.jtp?
> 	query=gnuplot+install&daterange=0&startdate=&enddate=
>
> but I didn't know enough to understand and use the rather sparse  
> advice, some of which seemed a bit dubious in any case.
>
> I spent the whole day today googling for some help but didn't find  
> anything other than, here and there, some smart aleck advice such as  
> "file a bug report with Apple". (I even tried other things such as  
> jPlot and GnuplotGUI but wasn't able to make either work. Something  
> about no being able to find the path to gnuplot.)
>
> Any kind of help would be most appreciated.




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