Re: "set term" vs "set terminal"

[Allin C. <cot...@wf...>]

On Thu, 17 Apr 2008, Hans-Bernhard Bröker wrote:

> Allin Cottrell wrote:
> > Gretl writes, e.g., "set term png" when calling gnuplot.
> 
> Care dropping a hint what "Gretl" is, or why we might want to 
> know?

Sorry, I thought I'd mentioned gretl a couple of times on this 
list before, but maybe not.  It's an open-source econometrics 
program which calls gnuplot for generating graphs, much as octave 
does. http://gretl.sourceforge.net/

> > We've recently had a report from a user who says his copy of 
> > gnuplot 4.2 won't accept "set term png" (but will accept "set 
> > terminal png").
> 
> I find that completely unbelievable.  On what platform did that 
> supposedly happen, and how/where did he acquire that copy of 
> gnuplot?

I'm told this was open on OpenSuse 10.2 i586.  I don't know the 
source of the copy of gnuplot but I suppose it was an OpenSuse 
rpm.

> > Can anyone think of circumstances where there might be a 
> > problem using the abbreviation, or must this be a broken build 
> > of gnuplot?
> 
> I might succeed in breaking gnuplot on purpose to have that 
> effect, but I find it extremely hard to believe that anything 
> like that could ever, possibly, happen by accident.  It's more 
> likely that the user in question was either pulling your leg, or 
> hallucinating.

It's a bit late for April Fooling.  But it is indeed puzzling.

Allin Cottrell