Consider installing gnuplot along with Gaston using Julia's artifacts system

[xiaodaigh]

This is the error I get when I try using Gaston

ERROR: InitError: Gaston cannot be loaded: gnuplot is not available on this system.
Stacktrace:
 [1] error(::String) at .\error.jl:33
 [2] __init__() at C:\Users\RTX2080\.julia\packages\Gaston\JtE39\src\Gaston.jl:64
 [3] _include_from_serialized(::String, ::Array{Any,1}) at .\loading.jl:697
 [4] _require_from_serialized(::String) at .\loading.jl:748
 [5] _require(::Base.PkgId) at .\loading.jl:1039
 [6] require(::Base.PkgId) at .\loading.jl:927
 [7] require(::Module, ::Symbol) at .\loading.jl:922
 [8] top-level scope at util.jl:175
 [9] eval(::Module, ::Any) at .\boot.jl:331
 [10] eval_user_input(::Any, ::REPL.REPLBackend) at D:\buildbot\worker\package_win64\build\usr\share\julia\stdlib\v1.4\REPL\src\REPL.jl:86
 [11] run_backend(::REPL.REPLBackend) at C:\Users\RTX2080\.julia\packages\Revise\XFtoQ\src\Revise.jl:1162
 [12] top-level scope at none:0
during initialization of module Gaston
caused by [exception 1]
IOError: could not spawn `gnuplot --version`: no such file or directory (ENOENT)
Stacktrace:
 [1] _spawn_primitive(::String, ::Cmd, ::Array{Any,1}) at .\process.jl:99
 [2] #550 at .\process.jl:112 [inlined]
 [3] setup_stdios(::Base.var"#550#551"{Cmd}, ::Array{Any,1}) at .\process.jl:196
 [4] _spawn at .\process.jl:111 [inlined]
 [5] _spawn at .\process.jl:106 [inlined]
 [6] success(::Cmd) at .\process.jl:496
 [7] __init__() at C:\Users\RTX2080\.julia\packages\Gaston\JtE39\src\Gaston.jl:62
 [8] _include_from_serialized(::String, ::Array{Any,1}) at .\loading.jl:697
 [9] _require_from_serialized(::String) at .\loading.jl:748
 [10] _require(::Base.PkgId) at .\loading.jl:1039
 [11] require(::Base.PkgId) at .\loading.jl:927
 [12] require(::Module, ::Symbol) at .\loading.jl:922
 [13] top-level scope at util.jl:175
 [14] eval(::Module, ::Any) at .\boot.jl:331
 [15] eval_user_input(::Any, ::REPL.REPLBackend) at D:\buildbot\worker\package_win64\build\usr\share\julia\stdlib\v1.4\REPL\src\REPL.jl:86
 [16] run_backend(::REPL.REPLBackend) at C:\Users\RTX2080\.julia\packages\Revise\XFtoQ\src\Revise.jl:1162
 [17] top-level scope at none:0

[mbaz]

I don't consider this a bug in Gaston. The documentation clearly states that gnuplot is required. When gnuplot is properly installed, Gaston works fine in Windows.

I will leave this bug open (with edited title) as a reminder that I need to study the artifacts scaffolding and see if it makes sense for Gaston. It's very low priority for me, though, but I will accept a pull request implementing this.

get the same issued when precompiling gaston. but without poping up alarm stacktrace. after "using Gaston" repeated its works fine.

what is Operating System are you used?

[VarLad]

@mbaz or anyone who's willing to give a try

using BinaryBuilder
BinaryBuilder.run_wizard()

for url: https://excellmedia.dl.sourceforge.net/project/gnuplot/gnuplot/5.4.0/gnuplot-5.4.0.tar.gz
After step 2a and 2b, in the terminal

cd gnuplot-5.4.0
./configure --prefix=/workspace/destdir
make 
make install
exit

The binary was created, although there were some dependencies unfulfilled
But almost all of them have their binaries already created.
The dependencies I encountered for linux were
cairo
cairo-pdf
pango
pangocairo
glib-2.0
Qt5Core
Qt5Gui
Qt5Network
Qt5Svg
Qt5PrintSupport
I think that qml.jl already has the qt binary
https://github.com/JuliaPackaging/Yggdrasil/blob/2c223a4511c715985d0ae9e6bc4cd53debfa1bae/Q/Qt/build_tarballs.jl we can skip out the other qt packages... only 5 are needed as dependencies for gnuplot [qt5core qt5gui qt5network qt5svg and qt5printsupport]
Also, I think that the other binaries are available too, I'm sure I saw them being installed with some other packages.
If someone can find them, just use them in step 2b

If someone has enough data, and is willing to give it a go, I hope the above instructions come in handy

[mbaz]

Does this procedure build binaries for Windows and Mac too?

[VarLad]

Yes

Does this procedure build binaries for Windows and Mac too?

Yes
Just after my linux build was over, Windows build started

[VarLad]

Although I had to cancel that one as I've low on internet data here...

[mbaz]

Thanks for the pointers! I will give it a shot soon.

[mbaz]

I'm not going to build for Mac... I'm not willing to agree to any restrictions and legal terms.

[VarLad]

I wanted to implement Gaston in a few Pluto tutorials... although I can't distribute it without artifacts
Gaston is just so good for this, as its lightweight and heavily equipped yet REALLY fast!

[VarLad]

I'm not going to build for Mac... I'm not willing to agree to any restrictions and legal terms.

No problem...
I just need the linux and windows build

[VarLad]

I'm not going to build for Mac... I'm not willing to agree to any restrictions and legal terms.

@mbaz Actually why not just put something like

if(Sys,isapple)
 run(` /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)" `)
 run(` brew install gnuplot `)
else if(Sys.iswindows)
download("https://excellmedia.dl.sourceforge.net/project/gnuplot/gnuplot/5.2.8/gp528-win64-mingw.exe")
run(\`  ./gp528-win64-mingw.exe \`)
end

Since the installation process for Windows and Mac is not going to change
But for Linux/FreeBSD, the process is different, the binaries would be better.
https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/base/file/#Base.download
https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/base/base/#Base.run