Soliciting opinions regarding gnuplot backend

[Ben Abbott]

I'm working a changeset for the gnuplot back end that permits the size  
and position of the x11 window to respect the figure "position"  
property (a new gnuplot feature).

The x11 terminal of gnuplot only respects the first specification of  
position and size (once opened the window's size and position can only  
be changed via the mouse). The aqua and wxt terminals behave  
differently, which do respect subsequent "set terminal ..." options in  
the gnuplot stream (aqua and wxt only respect the size, and not the  
position of the window).

I see two options, each of which permit partial compatibility with  
Matlab.

(1) Should Octave's gnuplot figures respect the figure properties when  
drawn and ignore changes via the mouse?

(2) When Octave is unable to determine the size and position of a  
particular figure, should Octave only specify the size and position  
when the figure is initially drawn (which is tricky from the cmd-line,  
since no handle exists for the figure)?

Ben