Re: [Plplot-general] drivers problem

[Alan W. I. <ir...@be...>]

On 2016-09-29 11:51-0000 Arjen Markus wrote:

> Hello Christiano,
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: cristiano piatti [mailto:cri...@gm...]
>> Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2016 12:02 PM
>> To: plp...@li...
>> Subject: [Plplot-general] drivers problem
>>
>> Hi everybody,
>> i have successfully built plplot with Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition
>> (Windows 7 32bit).
>> I have installed wxPack, Active Tcl and X-Win32 too.
>> When trying compiled examples i get the same error message:
>>
>> *** PLPLOT ERROR,  ABORTING OPERATION ***
>> plInitDispatchTable: Could not open  drivers directory, aborting operation
>> Requested device 0 not available
>>
>> Could someone please explain me how can i make plplot use drivers ?
>>
>> Thank you very much in advance.
>>

> This means that PLplot cannot find the directory with the drivers. You can set the environment variable PLPLOT_DRV_DIR to point to that directory. If PLplot has been installed as appropriate for your platform, then it should pick up the drivers directly.

@Arjen: Sorry, but I do not agree with this advice even though you are
likely the most experienced Windows user here.  The issue is
that PLPLOT_DRV_DIR is not recommended because it is typically not enough,
and it is too easy to set it for the build tree when you need it for
the install tree, etc.

@Christiano: to understand what I say below, the build tree is where
you build PLplot, and the install tree is where you install PLplot.
Typically before you do a build you should remove any stale install-tree
results and also any stale build-tree results, i.e., start from an
empty build directory.  After the build step, you typically install
PLplot in the install tree (which typically copies just the subset of
the files in the build tree that are actually needed for PLplot to work) and
completely delete the build tree (to save lots of space).

Here are the full Windows directions taken from the
scripts/comprehensive_test.sh script (look for logic concerning
ANY_WINDOWS_PLATFORM" = "true" ).

_____________

If working with the build tree (and not the install tree):

* Remove any install-tree PATH settings (see below).

* Put the dll subdirectory of the build tree on your PATH.  (This should give
access to both device drivers and other needed dll's.)
_____________

If working with the install tree (and not the build tree):

* Remove any build-tree PATH settings (see above).

* Put the install-tree bin subdirectory on your PATH.  (This should
give access to the non-device dll's.)

* Put the lib/plplot[0-9].[0-9]*.[0-9]*/drivers subdirectory on your PATH
(This should give access to the device dll's.)

_____________

I don't have access to Windows at the moment so I cannot check the
above directions directly, but Arjen tells me the comprehensive script
approach works on Windows so the above approach should work even if you
are not using that script.

@Arjen: if your much larger experience agrees confirms what I have
summarized from the comprehensive test script, could you adjust the wiki
appropriately?  For example,
<https://sourceforge.net/p/plplot/wiki/Configure_PLplot_for_the_Visual_Studio_IDE/>
says even in the build tree you need to set PLPLOT_DRV_DIR, but I am
positive that is not necessary (and will potentially screw up working
with the install tree after the build tree has been deleted).

Also, could you double-check that it is actually required to put
lib/plplot[0-9].[0-9]*.[0-9]*/drivers on the PATH or is that also old,
unnecessary advice?  If unnecessary, I will adjust the comprehensive
test script approprately.

Alan
__________________________
Alan W. Irwin

Astronomical research affiliation with Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Victoria (astrowww.phys.uvic.ca).

Programming affiliations with the FreeEOS equation-of-state
implementation for stellar interiors (freeeos.sf.net); the Time
Ephemerides project (timeephem.sf.net); PLplot scientific plotting
software package (plplot.sf.net); the libLASi project
(unifont.org/lasi); the Loads of Linux Links project (loll.sf.net);
and the Linux Brochure Project (lbproject.sf.net).
__________________________

Linux-powered Science
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