Install gnuplot 5.0.1 on OSX

macos gnuplot command-line-tool
dada picture dada · Sep 6, 2015 · Viewed 75.1k times · Source

I downloaded the source files for gnuplot 5.0.1 (gnuplot-5.0.1.tar.gz) from the source forge page. I also installed the Command Line Tools on my OS X 10.7.5 so that I have gcc and make in the /usr/bin folder.

I followed the installation instructions found in INSTALL.gnu file of the tarball: I ran the configure file and typed make, make check, make install, and make clean. With these commands, gnuplot is located in /usr/local/bin/.

The make check command outputs a lot of lines in the shell before testing many gnuplot scripts. I could actually visualize the plots and I thought "great, it works". So I opened a new terminal shell and typed gnuplot to begin using it (the terminal is automatically set to qt). A simple plot sin(x) fails. Gnuplot returns these messages : 

Could not start gnuplot_qt with path "/usr/local/libexec/gnuplot/5.0/gnuplot_qt" 
Could not start gnuplot_qt with path "/usr/local/libexec/gnuplot/5.0/gnuplot_qt" 
Could not connect to gnuplot_qt "" . Starting a new one 
Could not start gnuplot_qt with path "/usr/local/libexec/gnuplot/5.0/gnuplot_qt" 

Warning: slow font initialization  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
Warning: slow font initialization  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
Warning: slow font initialization  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
Warning: slow font initialization  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

…

The warning message keeps appearing infinitely if I don't close the terminal.

Answer

irundaia picture irundaia · Sep 6, 2015

To minimise my effort, I tend to use package managers to install command line tools as much as possible.

For OS X I recommend using homebrew. Installing gnuplot with homebrew is as easy as typing: brew install gnuplot

Related questions

Can't find x11 terminal in gnuplot Octave on Mac OS

I am running Mac OS Mavericks 10.9.4. Installed Octave 3.8.1 via Homebrew which came with gnuplot 4.6 Have XQuartz 2.7.6 installed. I restarted my computer after all was done. In order to plot in octave-cli everyone states that I should just 'set terminal x11…

Read More
Plotting with Octave after most recent MAC OSX update

Hi I just recently downloaded the most recent snow leopard update. Then I tried to plot something using Octave which has been installed on my computer for months (and plotting has worked all that time) Even since I installed the …

Read More
How do I install pip on macOS or OS X?

I spent most of the day yesterday searching for a clear answer for installing pip (package manager for Python). I can't find a good solution. How do I install it?

Read More