In order to get R graphics working for my Sage server setup instructions
at http://wiki.sagemath.org/SageServer, I had to install libpango1.0-dev
and libcairo-dev (in Ubuntu) before compiling Sage. I also installed
the xorg-dev, libpng-dev, and r-base packages, but I don't know if they
were strictly needed.
Thanks,
Jason