Can't get master to connect to display on OSX

[markcmiller86]

After building master (according to #52), I can't get it to run correctly...

[scratlantis:mfem/build/data] miller86% glvis -m escher.mesh

       _/_/_/  _/      _/      _/  _/
    _/        _/      _/      _/        _/_/_/
   _/  _/_/  _/      _/      _/  _/  _/_/
  _/    _/  _/        _/  _/    _/      _/_/
   _/_/_/  _/_/_/_/    _/      _/  _/_/_/

Generating coloring starting with element 18 / 42
Number of colors: 3
Can't connect to display!
Initializing the visualization failed.

I know glxgears works fine here.

[markcmiller86]

So, I am able to get glvis-3.3 release working fine on my OSX system. Its just the current master that is broken in some respects. Just FYI. No urgency.

[tzanio]

Hi Mark,

Did you build glvis@master with mfem@master (if not, can you try that)? Can you double check that you can run glxgears from inside XQuartz terminal (⌘N)?

I'm not sure what is going on here -- I have macOS Sierra, 10.12.6, and all versions of GLVis seem to behave well on it.

@GLVis/everyone: Does anyone else have similar Can't connect to display! issues on a Mac?

[markcmiller86]

Yes, I can run glxgears from inside XQuartz terminal window.

Will try both @ master and see if that fixes

[v-dobrev]

Hmm, this looks like an issue with X11. The error message comes from here:

glvis/lib/tk.cpp

Lines 1305 to 1309 in d31a391

	display = XOpenDisplay(0);
	if (!display) {
	fprintf(stderr, "Can't connect to display!\n");
	return GL_FALSE;
	}

which means that XOpenDisplay fails. Could this be a linking issue? For example, if the libX11.dylib that glvis is linked with is not compatible with the running XQuartz.

[thengineer]

Just for the record, I used to have the same issue.
I've tried v3.3, v3.4 and the current master branch: all versions fail with the message above.

What helped, was to install XQuartz from the official website instead of through homebrew.

[dsellers94]

Hi I see that this issue has been closed but I am having this exact same problem. I installed Xquarts through the website, not homebrew. Is it worth trying to reinstall? Can anyone offer any further advice?

I am using mfem-4.2 and glvis-3.4 on MacOS 10.15.4.

EDIT: The problem exists for v3.3 as well as v3.4. I am a complete beginner with mfem and just trying to get the examples and visualization working before I try to learn to use the library.

EDIT: I can also run glxgears in the XQuarts terminal, after I figured out what each of those was.

[dsellers94]

This problem appears to be solved by reinstalling XQuarts.