ggplot exception causes the server-side R session to halt

[wliao229]

I am using a ssh tunnel to connect to the server.

ssh -4 <server addr> -L 55556:127.0.0.1:55555 'Rscript -e "remoter::server(port=55555)"'

I notice whenever there is an exception using ggplot, the server R process will halt. For example, I receive such error message from the server's log:

Calls: <Anonymous> ... f -> scales_add_defaults -> lapply -> FUN -> paste0
Execution halted

This error is related to a wrong variable specified for ggplot. It seems like the exception is not handled by the server.

[snoweye]

Please check if the PR #52 fixes the problem or not. Thanks.

Note that the server R process is dead not halt, but the client R process halts. Ctrl-c can escape the client.

[wliao229]

Thank you. I got this error when install it.

> devtools::install_github('snoweye/remoter')
Downloading GitHub repo snoweye/remoter@master
pdflatex not found! Not building PDF manual.
   Warning: unknown option ‘--no-staged-install’
✔  checking for file ‘/tmp/Rtmp8K605u/remotes45bc61fefc55/snoweye-remoter-aef7d8b/DESCRIPTION’ ...
─  preparing ‘remoter’:
✔  checking DESCRIPTION meta-information ...
─  installing the package to build vignettes
         -----------------------------------
─  installing *source* package ‘remoter’ ...
   ** using staged installation
   ** R
   ** inst
   ** byte-compile and prepare package for lazy loading
   ** help
   *** installing help indices
   ** building package indices
   ** installing vignettes
   ** testing if installed package can be loaded from temporary location
   ** testing if installed package can be loaded from final location
   ** testing if installed package keeps a record of temporary installation path
   ERROR: hard-coded installation path: please report to the package maintainer and use ‘--no-staged-install’
─  removing ‘/tmp/Rtmp5dWHDT/Rinst480946e73cef/remoter’
         -----------------------------------
   ERROR: package installation failed
Error in (function (command = NULL, args = character(), error_on_status = TRUE,  : 
  System command error

[snoweye]

Please try the newest update again. Thanks.

• You may need a newer R (maybe > 3.7) to have --no-staged-install.
• There is no src/ in remoter, so I have no idea where hard-coded installation path comes from.

[howff]

I have tried this but I still get a crash when I use ggplot and mistype a variable name

[2021-02-05 19:14:33]: client connected
Error in FUN(X[[i]], ...) : object 'Sepal.Widths' not found
Calls: <Anonymous> ... <Anonymous> -> f -> scales_add_defaults -> lapply -> FUN
Execution halted

Bonus question: when this gets fixed will it be possible to get a new version pushed to CRAN ?

[snoweye]

Try if this update fixes the problems. @howff

[howff]

The change from if (ret$visible && is.gg.ggplot(ret$value) && is.rpng.open()) to if (ret$visible && is.gg.ggplot(ret$value)) seems to be the correct fix for my problem, thank you very much.

[snoweye]

Thanks. @wrathematics may send this to CRAN when he has time.

[wrathematics]

There are some strange things going on with one of the windows cran machines (which affect remoter) that I'm keeping an eye on. Will submit an update soon.

[snoweye]

0.4-0 on R release and 0.4-1 on R release look both fine to me. Just send to R winbuilder for three R versions which you will receive the report.

[wrathematics]

Referring to this.

[snoweye]

Yes, I saw that and test for released R on windows. Did you get the same message from CRAN? If so, I need the log file to fix. If not, then you should be fine. I think it is related to tests/batch.R. If the server did not receive shutdown() from CRAN. It will hang forever because it is a system() call in background. I will add an automatic kill in 5 mins for windows if that is possible. Let me try.

[snoweye]

I add a file check to make sure server is running in the tests/batch.R. Connect check would not work because zmq_connect return 0 when addr = localhost.

[snoweye]

I add all socket options to pbdZMQ. The CONNECT_TIMEOUT with SNDTIMEO and RCVTIMEO may help on this, but it needs to rewrite a lot of server() and client() ... This is somehow related to this, too. @wrathematics