[OS X TeX] GNUPLOT on Mac
Michael Sharpe
msharpe at ucsd.edu
Wed Aug 13 00:57:48 EDT 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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