[matplotlib-devel] matplotlib installation error

[Hardeep N. <na...@cs...>]

Hi,

I have been having problems trying to install matplotlib properly on  
our server. Our environment is Debian 4.1.1-21, Python2.4 , and I have  
installed all the required modules (numpy, Numeric etc). I originally  
tried installing matplotlib  from source, but the build was  
unsuccessful. I was getting this error when I tried building  
matplotlib-0.90.1:

python setup.py build


building for GTK requires pygtk; you must be able to "import gtk" in  
your build/install environment
TKAgg requires TkInter
running build
running build_py
copying lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/matplotlibrc ->
build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.3/matplotlib/mpl-data
running build_ext
building 'matplotlib.backends._na_backend_agg' extension
c++ -pthread -shared
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/agg23/src/agg_trans_affine.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/agg23/src/agg_path_storage.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/agg23/src/agg_bezier_arc.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/agg23/src/agg_curves.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/agg23/src/agg_vcgen_dash.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/agg23/src/agg_vcgen_stroke.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/agg23/src/agg_rasterizer_scanline_aa.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/agg23/src/agg_image_filters.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/src/_image.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/src/ft2font.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/src/mplutils.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/CXX/IndirectPythonInterface.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/CXX/cxx_extensions.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/CXX/cxxsupport.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/CXX/cxxextensions.o
build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.3/src/_na_backend_agg.o -L/usr/local/lib
-L/usr/lib -L/usr/lib64 -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/lib -L/usr/lib64 -lpng
-lz -lstdc++ -lm -lfreetype -lz -lstdc++ -lm -o
build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.3/matplotlib/backends/_na_backend_agg.so
/usr/bin/ld: /usr/local/lib/libpng.a(png.o): relocation R_X86_64_32
against `a local symbol' can not be used when making a shared object;
recompile with -fPIC
/usr/local/lib/libpng.a: could not read symbols: Bad value
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
error: command 'c++' failed with exit status 1

So I tried installing matplotlib from distribution (ie. using apt-get  
install python-matplotlib), thinking it may work instead of me trying  
to manually install it. The distribution installs matplotlib-0.87.7,  
which is older than the current version available by source. And it  
seemed to compile fine without any errors. However, when I try to  
import pylab using python command line, I get this error:

import matplotlib
import pylab


Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
   File "pylab.py", line 1, in ?
     from matplotlib.pylab import *
   File "matplotlib/pylab.py", line 197, in ?
     import cm
   File "matplotlib/cm.py", line 5, in ?
     import colors
   File "matplotlib/colors.py", line 33, in ?
     from numerix import array, arange, take, put, Float, Int, where, \
   File "matplotlib/numerix/__init__.py", line 75, in ?
     from _sp_imports import nx, infinity, rand, randn, isnan, all, any
   File "matplotlib/numerix/_sp_imports.py", line 9, in ?
     from numpy import Int8, UInt8, \
ImportError: cannot import name Int8

I think this Debian distribution of matplotlib (which is older than  
the current  release) is incompatible with the current version of  
numpy/Numeric that I have installed, but I'm not sure. I would rather  
have the latest matplotlib vesrion installed (version 0.90.1), but I  
can't seem to get it to even build properly.

I'm stumped and I'm hoping someone has an idea why I might be getting  
this error, and how I can get around it. Please let me know if you  
need more information if it helps understand the problem better.  
Thanks in advance,

best,
Hardeep