--- a/scripts/plot/util/graphics_toolkit.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/util/graphics_toolkit.m
@@ -82,6 +82,14 @@
   endif
 
   if (! any (strcmp (loaded_graphics_toolkits (), name)))
+    ## FIXME: Special gnuplot handling for versions < 4.2.5 (bug #44978).
+    ## This can probably be deleted in the future once RHEL upgrades gnuplot.
+    if (strcmp (name, "gnuplot"))
+      valid_version = __gnuplot_has_feature__ ("minimum_version");
+      if (valid_version != 1)
+        error ("graphics_toolkit: gnuplot version to old.");
+      endif
+    endif
     feval (["__init_", name, "__"]);
     if (! any (strcmp (loaded_graphics_toolkits (), name)))
       error ("graphics_toolkit: %s toolkit was not correctly loaded", name);

--- a/scripts/plot/util/private/__gnuplot_has_feature__.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/util/private/__gnuplot_has_feature__.m
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@
 ## Created: 2009-01-27
 
 function res = __gnuplot_has_feature__ (feature)
-  persistent features = {"x11_figure_position",
+  persistent features = {"minimum_version",
+                         "x11_figure_position",
                          "wxt_figure_size",
                          "transparent_patches",
                          "transparent_surface",
@@ -45,8 +46,8 @@
       ## Don't throw an error if gnuplot isn't installed
       gnuplot_version = "0.0.0";
     end_try_catch
-    versions = {"4.2.5", "4.4", "4.4", "4.4", "4.2", "4.2", "4.4", "4.4", "4.4", "4.4", "4.3"};
-    operators = {">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">="};
+    versions = {"4.2.5", "4.2.5", "4.4", "4.4", "4.4", "4.2", "4.2", "4.4", "4.4", "4.4", "4.4", "4.3"};
+    operators = {">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">=", ">="};
     have_features = false (size (features));
     for n = 1 : numel (have_features)
       has_features(n) = compare_versions (gnuplot_version, versions{n}, operators{n});