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Enable X11 display connection on a remote server

  • If you already have a session open and want to enable X11

You probably got an error like this:

Error in .External2(C_X11, d$display, d$width, d$height, d$pointsize,  :                                                                      
  unable to start device X11cairo
In addition: Warning message:
In (function (display = "", width, height, pointsize, gamma, bg,  :
  unable to open connection to X11 display ''

Your current session probably gives these:

# old terminal
> capabilites()             # returns X11 = FALSE 
> Sys.getenv('DISPLAY')     # returns localhost:xx.0
localhost:12.0
> x11('localhost:12.0')     # returns error message

Fix: We will redirect the DISPLAY parameter in the current session to the value in the new connection

  1. Start a new ssh connection:
# new terminal
ssh -Y login@remote.server

Find the value of DISPLAY in this new session

In bash:

# new terminal
$ echo $DISPLAY
localhost:13.0 # returns localhost:xx.0

OR in R:

# new terminal
> Sys.getenv('DISPLAY')
localhost:13.0 # returns localhost:xx.0

In the original R terminal, set the DISPLAY parameter to the new connection value:

# old terminal
> Sys.setenv('DISPLAY' = 'localhost:13.0')
> x11('localhost:13.0')  # or x11() - both should work

--> Long term solution

If security settings allow you to do so, in ssh config file (~/.ssh/config)

ForwardX11Trusted yes

If not, set the value of ForwardX11Timeout to prevent X11 to stop during a session if it's opened in the last 24 hours (1d).

ForwardX11Timeout 1d

Source

Good-to-have functions for your .Rprofile

# check directory name string if the directory exists
# and make sure there is a / at the end
asDirPath <- function(string){
  if(!endsWith(string,"/"))string=paste0(string,"/")
  if(!dir.exists(string))warning("Directory does not exist, will exit!")
  return(string)
}


# clear everything in the env
# then call garbage collector
clear <- function(){
  rm(list=ls())  
  gc()
}

###############################################################################
# from source1
print.command <- function (cmd) {
  default.args <- attr(cmd, "default.args")
  if (length(default.args) == 0L) default.args <- list()
  res <- do.call(cmd, default.args, envir = parent.frame(2))
  if (attr(cmd, "print_result")) print(res)
  invisible(NULL)
}

make_command <- function(x, ..., print = TRUE) {
  class(x) <- c("command", class(x))
  attr(x, "default.args") <- list(...)
  attr(x, "print_result") <- print
  x
}

exit <- make_command(quit, print = FALSE)
###############################################################################

Source1

TODO add https://raw.githubusercontent.com/isinaltinkaya/R_collection/main/functions.MD