rhyolite-MELTS Hangs or Returns a Fatal Error (Sierra or El Capitan)

Issue

On MacOS 10.12 (Sierra) or MacOS 10.11 (El Capitan), rhyolite-MELTS appears to hang at startup or returns the following error:

Warning: Fatal Error:
XmGetDefaultDisplay cannot be used prior to VendorS.Initialize, returns NULL

Detail

You upgraded XQuartz to version 2.7.9 or later.

Solution

• If you use Sierra, download the MELTS executable for Sierra.
• If you use El Capitan, do either of the following:
  • Upgrade to Sierra, and download the MELTS executable for Sierra.
  • Downgrade to XQuartz 2.7.7 or 2.7.8. See xquartz.macosforge.org.

Additional information

XQuartz 2.7.9 or later is incompatible with the MELTS executable released May 21, 2015. A newer exectable (released November 13, 2016) was built under MacOS 10.12.1 (Sierra) and linked against XQuartz 2.7.11 and resolves this issue.

The issue may occur also with certain other combinations of MacOS and XQuartz versions. Not every possible configuration has been tested.