[Matplotlib-users] tight_layout() causes RuntimeError on OSX

[Elliot S. <sta...@gm...>]

Hey guys, I'm trying to use tight_layout() to fix up some subplot
grossness, but whenever I call it, I get:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "test.py", line 16, in <module>
    plt.tight_layout()
  File
"/Users/<username>/.homebrew/Cellar/python/2.7.3/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.py",
line 1056, in tight_layout
    fig.tight_layout(pad=pad, h_pad=h_pad, w_pad=w_pad)
  File "/Users/<username>/.homebrew/Cellar/python/2.7.3/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/figure.py",
line 1415, in tight_layout
    pad=pad, h_pad=h_pad, w_pad=w_pad)
  File "/Users/<username>/.homebrew/Cellar/python/2.7.3/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/tight_layout.py",
line 117, in auto_adjust_subplotpars
    tight_bbox_raw = union([ax.get_tightbbox(renderer) for ax in subplots])
  File "/Users/<username>/.homebrew/Cellar/python/2.7.3/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/axes.py",
line 8396, in get_tightbbox
    bb.append(self.title.get_window_extent(renderer))
  File "/Users/<username>/.homebrew/Cellar/python/2.7.3/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/text.py",
line 743, in get_window_extent
    bbox, info = self._get_layout(self._renderer)
  File "/Users/<username>/.homebrew/Cellar/python/2.7.3/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/text.py",
line 296, in _get_layout
    ismath=False)
  File "/Users/<username>/.homebrew/Cellar/python/2.7.3/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_macosx.py",
line 164, in get_text_width_height_descent
    width, height, descent =
self.gc.get_text_width_height_descent(unicode(s), family, size, weight,
style)
RuntimeError: CGContextRef is NULL

I've googled around, but no answers have been found.  Is this a known
issue, and if it's not, how can I go about fixing it?
Thanks,
-E