Gnuplot

Module

Gnuplot is now available as module in 2022r2 software stack:

module load 2022r2
module load gnuplot

Do you want X11 terminal to splash windows?

The gnuplot module available on login and worker nodes is not compiled with the X11 terminal support (i.e. it will not be able to splash windows with your graphs, only save them as files). This functionality is included in the gnuplot module available on visual nodes. However, you can compile your own version of gnuplot, which will support X11 (see below).

Compiling locally

Gnuplot is available in the 2022r2 software stack. It is also possible to compile it locally (in the example below, in your /scratch/$USER/tools directory).

Load necessary modules:

module load 2022r2
module load fontconfig
module load freetype
module load gettext
module load libffi
module load libiconv
module load pcre
module load perl
module load python
module load zlib
module load glib
module load pixman
module load cairo
module load libcerf
module load libgd
module load libxpm
module load fribidi
module load gobject-introspection
module load icu4c
module load harfbuzz
module load pango
module load readline

Export necessary environment variables:

export CPATH=$CAIRO_ROOT/include/cairo:$CPATH
export CPATH=$LIBGD_ROOT/include:$CPATH
export LIBRARY_PATH=$LIBGD_ROOT/lib:$LIBRARY_PATH
export CPATH=$GLIB_ROOT/include/glib-2.0:$CPATH
export CPATH=$GLIB_ROOT/lib/glib-2.0/include:$CPATH
export CPATH=$PANGO_ROOT/include/pango-1.0:$CPATH
export CPATH=$LIBICONV_ROOT/include:$CPATH
export LIBRARY_PATH=$LIBICONV_ROOT/lib:$LIBRARY_PATH

Download the source:

cd /scratch/$USER/tools
wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot/files/gnuplot/5.4.3/gnuplot-5.4.3.tar.gz

Unpack:

tar -xvf gnuplot-5.4.3.tar.gz

Prepare the installation folders:

cd gnuplot-5.4.3
mkdir install

Configure, compile, and install:

./configure --prefix=/scratch/$USER/tools/gnuplot-5.4.3/install
make
make install

Cleanup:

cd ..
rm gnuplot-5.4.3.tar.gz

Test:

Create a simple script sinx.p:

# Set the output to a png file
set terminal png size 500,500
# The file we'll write to
set output 'sinx.png'
# The graphic title
set title 'Sin(x)'
#plot the graphic
plot sin(x)

Execute:

/scratch/$USER/tools/gnuplot-5.4.3/install/bin/gnuplot sinx.p

Output should be a sinx.png file:

Equally, an interactive splash window functionality is there (provided, you are connected to DelftBlue with X-forwarding):

        G N U P L O T
        Version 5.4 patchlevel 3    last modified 2021-12-24

        Copyright (C) 1986-1993, 1998, 2004, 2007-2021
        Thomas Williams, Colin Kelley and many others

        gnuplot home:     http://www.gnuplot.info
        faq, bugs, etc:   type "help FAQ"
        immediate help:   type "help"  (plot window: hit 'h')

Terminal type is now 'x11'

Actually, you do not only get an X11 terminal, but also a lot of other options:

gnuplot> set terminal

Available terminal types:
       cairolatex  LaTeX picture environment using graphicx package and Cairo backend
           canvas  HTML Canvas object
              cgm  Computer Graphics Metafile
          context  ConTeXt with MetaFun (for PDF documents)
          domterm  DomTerm terminal emulator with embedded SVG
             dumb  ascii art for anything that prints text
              dxf  dxf-file for AutoCad (default size 120x80)
              emf  Enhanced Metafile format
         epscairo  eps terminal based on cairo
         epslatex  LaTeX picture environment using graphicx package
              fig  FIG graphics language V3.2 for XFIG graphics editor
              gif  GIF images using libgd and TrueType fonts
             hpgl  HP7475 and relatives [number of pens] [eject]
             jpeg  JPEG images using libgd and TrueType fonts
               mf  Metafont plotting standard
               mp  MetaPost plotting standard
             pcl5  PCL5e/PCL5c printers using HP-GL/2
         pdfcairo  pdf terminal based on cairo
           pict2e  LaTeX2e picture environment
              png  PNG images using libgd and TrueType fonts
         pngcairo  png terminal based on cairo
Press return for more:
       postscript  PostScript graphics, including EPSF embedded files (*.eps)
          pslatex  LaTeX picture environment with PostScript \specials
            pstex  plain TeX with PostScript \specials
         pstricks  LaTeX picture environment with PSTricks macros
          sixelgd  sixel using libgd and TrueType fonts
              svg  W3C Scalable Vector Graphics
          tek40xx  Tektronix 4010 and others; most TEK emulators
          tek410x  Tektronix 4106, 4107, 4109 and 420X terminals
          texdraw  LaTeX texdraw environment
         tkcanvas  Tk canvas widget
          unknown  Unknown terminal type - not a plotting device
            vttek  VT-like tek40xx terminal emulator
              x11  X11 Window System interactive terminal
             xlib  X11 Window System (dump of gnuplot_x11 command stream)
            xterm  Xterm Tektronix 4014 Mode