Installation Notes--MODIStsp for mac OS X (sierra), R 3.4

gistfile1.txt

installing MODIStsp requires many dependencies: 
library(RGtk2; rgdal; cairo; sp; bitops; data.table; gdalUtils; hash; gWidgets; rgeos; xts; XML; xml2; stringr; httr; RJSONIO; chron; iterators; digest; pacman; curl) 
and for MAC OSX sierra, there are two main issues:
1. As outlined here in the comment by @tobybot11 (https://gist.github.com/sebkopf/9405675) Rgtk requires the x11 libraries/headers (gdk/gdkx.h specifically)
and doesn't work with the quartz libraries/headers which now is the default for GTK
2. When installing the dependencies gWidgetsRGtk2 and cairoDevice from CRAN you need to choose the version "OS X Mavericks binaries" 
and not "Package source"

To start, update to the recent R package, then update packages
#1. update packages
update.packages()
#2. install the development version of devtools:
install.packages(c("devtools"))
devtools::install_github("hadley/devtools")
#3. install RGtk2 using Homebrew https://gist.github.com/sebkopf/9405675
#first ensure you have cairo installed with "--with-x11":
# brew uninstall cairo --ignore-dependencies
# brew install --with-x11 cairo 
#next edit configure options for GTK to require x11 rather than Quartz:
# brew edit gtk+ 
# --with-gdktarget=x11
# --enable-x11-backend
# brew install --build-from-source --verbose gtk+
# export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/gtk+-2.0.pc:/opt/X11/lib/pkgconfig
#next go to CRAN and download RGtk2_2.20.33.tar.gz and run:
# R CMD INSTALL RGtk2_2.20.33.tar.gz
library(RGtk2)
#4. install GDAL first using: brew install gdal
# since rgdal is not looking in /usr/local/lib must include that with install.packages(), line below
install.packages('rgdal', type = "source", configure.args=c('--with-proj-include=/usr/local/include','--with-proj-lib=/usr/local/lib'))
# check all dependencies are there
library(RGtk2)
library(rgdal)
library(cairo)
library(sp)
library(bitops)
library(data.table)
library(gdalUtils)
library(hash)
library(gWidgets)
library(rgeos)
library(xts)
library(XML)
library(xml2)
library(stringr)
library(httr)
library(RJSONIO)
library(chron)
library(iterators)
library(digest)
library(pacman)
library(curl)
#5. library(gWidgetsRGtk2) 
#### very important !!!! in CRAN choose the version "OS X Mavericks binaries" for 
#### gWidgetsRGtk2 and cairoDevice, not "Package source", and it will work for 
#### R version 3.4, mac OS X Sierra. Move both to Frameworks/R.framework/3.4... and 
#### open R and run the code below. This will also install cairoDevice
install.packages("gWidgetsRGtk2", lib="~/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/3.4/Resources/library/gWidgetsRGtk2")
library(gWidgetsRGtk2)
library(cairoDevice)

#6. install development version of MODIStsp from github
library(devtools) 
install_github("lbusett/MODIStsp", ref = "master")
library(MODIStsp)
MODIStsp()
#gave error, when I restart R it worked!
#but then, I ran MODIStsp() and got this error: "Your local GDAL installation does not support HDF4 format. Please install HDF4 support and recompile GDAL." 
# I had to unistall GDAL in brew and follow notes here (http://r-sig-geo.2731867.n2.nabble.com/OSX-rgdal-GDAL-drivers-and-HDF4-td7588400.html):
# > brew install hdf4 
# prefer hdf4 links over NetCDF 
# > brew link --overwrite hdf4 
# > brew install gdal --complete --enable-unsupported --with-hdf4 
# check what drivers are installed, list should include hdf4: 
# > gdal-config --formats 

# Good luck!


##########################################################
# in case R beggins to hangup constantly
# these 3 lines of code remove all packadges, 
# except base R (this solved fatal errors from happening)
##########################################################
ip <- installed.packages()
pkgs.to.remove <- ip[!(ip[,"Priority"] %in% c("base", "recommended")), 1]
sapply(pkgs.to.remove, remove.packages)
# this line installs them again, but you loose non-base packages
sapply(pkgs.to.remove, install.packages)