[Matplotlib-users] report a problem on importing pylab OR pyplot error

[Daoliang T. <dao...@gm...>]

Dear all,

I am facing a weird problem when I import pylab or pyplot modules.
Right now, I can successfully import matplotlib. But  after I issue
the command "ipython -pylab --verbose-helpful", I get the following
error:
=================================================================================================================================================
$HOME=/home/michael
CONFIGDIR=/home/michael/.matplotlib
matplotlib data path /usr/share/matplotlib/mpl-data
loaded rc file /etc/matplotlibrc
matplotlib version 0.99.3
verbose.level helpful
interactive is False
units is False
platform is linux2
font search path ['/usr/share/matplotlib/mpl-data/fonts/ttf',
'/usr/share/matplotlib/mpl-data/fonts/afm']
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/ipython", line 28, in <module>
    IPython.Shell.start().mainloop()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/IPython/Shell.py", line 1241, in start
    return shell(user_ns = user_ns)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/IPython/Shell.py", line 1106, in __init__
    shell_class=MatplotlibShell)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/IPython/Shell.py", line 73, in __init__
    debug=debug,shell_class=shell_class)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/IPython/ipmaker.py", line 100, in
make_IPython
    embedded=embedded,**kw)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/IPython/Shell.py", line 627, in __init__
    user_ns,user_global_ns,b2 =
self._matplotlib_config(name,user_ns,user_global_ns)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/IPython/Shell.py", line 556, in
_matplotlib_config
    import matplotlib.pylab as pylab
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/pylab.py", line 206, in <module>
    from matplotlib import mpl  # pulls in most modules
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/mpl.py", line 2, in <module>
    from matplotlib import axis
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/axis.py", line 10, in <module>
    import matplotlib.font_manager as font_manager
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/font_manager.py", line
1301, in <module>
    _rebuild()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/font_manager.py", line
1292, in _rebuild
    fontManager = FontManager()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/font_manager.py", line
1010, in __init__
    self.afmlist = createFontList(self.afmfiles, fontext='afm')
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/font_manager.py", line
578, in createFontList
    font = afm.AFM(fh)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/afm.py", line 303, in __init__
    parse_afm(fh)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/afm.py", line 291, in parse_afm
    dcmetrics_ascii, dcmetrics_name = _parse_char_metrics(fh)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/afm.py", line 176, in
_parse_char_metrics
    bbox = _to_list_of_floats(vals[3][2:])
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/matplotlib/afm.py", line 58, in
_to_list_of_floats
    return [_to_float(val) for val in s.split()]
ValueError: invalid literal for float(): uni2605
===========================================================================================================================================

Each time, as long as I import pylab OR pyplot, I will obtain
"ValueError: invalid literal for float(): uni2605". After googling a
long time, I can not get an idea to address this issue. Can anyone
give me some hints?

My computer configuration is the following:

1. OS: debian squeeze Linux  2.6.32-5-amd64 #1 SMP Sat Oct 30 14:18:21
UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
2. matplotlib version:  0.99.3
3. The matplotlib is installed from the debian repository.
4. no any special customization of "matplotlibrc"
5. import pylab will produce this error.
6. python version: 2.6.6-3


I have reinstalled these packages many times and this does not solve
this issue.

Thanks for your help!

Daoliang