STACK GNUPlot error, Windows OS, Localhost

STACK GNUPlot error, Windows OS, Localhost

by Atreya Shankar -
Number of replies: 2
Hello All,


I am new to Moodle and want to set up a localhost version of Moodle on my Windows OS. I basically want to develop some STACK questions on my local network and later export them onto the central Moodle server of my university. 

So far, I have managed to get everything installed. The final bits of the STACK healthcheck read: 

win
Found, and using, Maxima in the following directory: C:/maxima-5.38.1/
OKCAS returned data as expected. You have a live connection to the CAS.
OKCorrect and expected STACK-Maxima library version being used (2017082400).
CAS results are being cached in the database.

I am using Moodle 3.3, Maxima 5.38.1 and STACK 4.0.1. The only issue here is that the GNUPlot graphs are not appearing. Instead, I get the following output in the healthcheck:

Stack auto-generated plot of "..." with parameters "...", where the same input information is within the ellipses. 

The script further states: "If no errors are returned, but a plot is not displayed then one of the following may help. (i) check read permissions on the two temporary directories. (ii) change the options used by GNUPlot to create the plot. Currently there is no web interface to these options."

I believe this might have something to do with permissions and perhaps I can approach this first. 

Would anyone know how I can change permissions to allow GNUPlot to function and save plots within server/moodledata/? Should I be editing a .php file directly or can the permissions be changed within the Windows OS?

I would appreciate any help on this, thank you so much!

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In reply to Atreya Shankar

Re: STACK GNUPlot error, Windows OS, Localhost

by Christopher Sangwin -
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Atreya,

Sorry you are having problems installing the demo/test version of STACK on Windows.  I expect the problem is really to do with path names rather than permissions. However, I've not used STACK on Windows for some time.  Another user raised an issue about this on GitHub last week (https://github.com/maths/moodle-qtype_stack/issues/332) Unfortunately a week ago someone spilt coffee on my Windows 7 laptop and it is probably dead!  So, until I get a Windows machine back I can't fix this, however I will fix it and close this issue in due course.

Chris


In reply to Christopher Sangwin

Re: STACK GNUPlot error, Windows OS, Localhost

by Atreya Shankar -

Dear Chris,

First off I want to thank you for developing this wonderful tool. I am a course instructor for Mathematics in my university in Germany and we are hoping to have STACK running on our central Moodle server soon. We hope this would help us export our Mathematics assessments online, so we can more efficiently employ resources towards actual teaching and not marking homeworks all the time. We are really hopeful for this endeavour.

I am sure we will solve the GNUPlot issue on our central server; only my localhost is an issue. But nonetheless I can start with the development of the questions without the plots, since STACK and Maxima are running fine. Thank you again, I will then wait out for any updates on this smile

Thank you and a nice day ahead,

Atreya