[Matplotlib-users] font setting in matplotlib 1.3.1

[Vlastimil B. <vla...@gm...>]

Hi all,
after upgrading to matplotlib 1.3.1, I noticed some display errors on
the plots with regard to accented characters (such as carons etc.).
As I recall, I had similar problem in the past and could work around
them by modifying rcParams, however, this fix doesn't work as expected
in 1.3.1. (with python 2.7.6, 32bit on Win 7, Czech - with both WXAgg
and TKAgg backends).
>From the usual Czech diacritics   áčďéěíňóřšťúůýž some are not
displayed  (ďěňřťů) - replacement squares are shown instead.

Simply prepending a suitable font at the beginning of the list
rcParams['font.sans-serif'] doesn't help in 1.3.1.
I eventually found out, that "Bitstream Vera Sans" (which is not
installed on this computer) is somehow offending - as long as this
item is in the list (even at the end), the mentioned characters aren't
displayed.

The problem can be observed in the following simple pylab script:
==============
#! Python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

# with implicit fonts "ďěňřťů" are not displayed properly in the plot title
from matplotlib import rcParams
rcParams['font.family'] = 'sans-serif'
if "Bitstream Vera Sans" in rcParams['font.sans-serif']:
    rcParams['font.sans-serif'].remove("Bitstream Vera Sans")

# after appending the "offending" font even at the end of the list (by
uncommenting the following line), ďěňřťů are not displayed again
# rcParams['font.sans-serif'].append("Bitstream Vera Sans")

import pylab
pylab.title(u"abcd áčďéěíňóřšťúůýž äöüß ê xyz")
pylab.show()
==============

Is there something special in the resolution of the font items in  rcParams?
This individual issue seems to be fixed with removing the single font,
but I'd like to understand this more generally, as the installed fonts
on different computers differ.

Thanks in advance
              Vlastimil Brom