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Troubleshooting

Contents

Obtaining matplotlib version

To find out your matplotlib version number, import it and print the __version__ attribute:

>>> import matplotlib
>>> matplotlib.__version__
'0.98.0'

:file:`matplotlib` install location

You can find what directory matplotlib is installed in by importing it and printing the __file__ attribute:

>>> import matplotlib
>>> matplotlib.__file__
'/home/jdhunter/dev/lib64/python2.5/site-packages/matplotlib/__init__.pyc'

:file:`.matplotlib` directory location

Each user has a :file:`.matplotlib/` directory which may contain a :ref:`matplotlibrc <customizing-with-matplotlibrc-files>` file and various caches to improve matplotlib's performance. To locate your :file:`.matplotlib/` directory, use :func:`matplotlib.get_configdir`:

>>> import matplotlib as mpl
>>> mpl.get_configdir()
'/home/darren/.matplotlib'

On unix like systems, this directory is generally located in your :envvar:`HOME` directory. On windows, it is in your documents and settings directory by default:

>>> import matplotlib
>>> mpl.get_configdir()
    'C:\\Documents and Settings\\jdhunter\\.matplotlib'

If you would like to use a different configuration directory, you can do so by specifying the location in your :envvar:`MPLCONFIGDIR` environment variable -- see :ref:`setting-linux-osx-environment-variables`.

Report a problem

If you are having a problem with matplotlib, search the mailing lists first: there's a good chance someone else has already run into your problem.

If not, please provide the following information in your e-mail to the mailing list:

  • your operating system; on Linux/UNIX post the output of uname -a

  • matplotlib version:

    python -c `import matplotlib; print matplotlib.__version__`

  • where you obtained matplotlib (e.g. your Linux distribution's packages or the matplotlib Sourceforge site, or the enthought python distribution EPD.

  • any customizations to your matplotlibrc file (see :ref:`customizing-matplotlib`).

  • if the problem is reproducible, please try to provide a minimal, standalone Python script that demonstrates the problem. This is the critical step. If you can't post a piece of code that we can run and reproduce your error, the chances of getting help are significantly diminished. Very often, the mere act of trying to minimize your code to the smallest bit that produces the error will help you find a bug in your code that is causing the problem.

  • you can get very helpful debugging output from matlotlib by running your script with a verbose-helpful or --verbose-debug flags and posting the verbose output the lists:

    > python simple_plot.py --verbose-helpful > output.txt

If you compiled matplotlib yourself, please also provide

  • any changes you have made to setup.py or setupext.py

  • the output of:

    rm -rf build
python setup.py build

    The beginning of the build output contains lots of details about your platform that are useful for the matplotlib developers to diagnose your problem.

  • your compiler version -- eg, gcc --version

Including this information in your first e-mail to the mailing list will save a lot of time.

You will likely get a faster response writing to the mailing list than filing a bug in the bug tracker. Most developers check the bug tracker only periodically. If your problem has been determined to be a bug and can not be quickly solved, you may be asked to file a bug in the tracker so the issue doesn't get lost.

Problems with recent git versions

First make sure you have a clean build and install (see :ref:`clean-install`), get the latest git update, install it and run a simple test script in debug mode:

rm -rf build
rm -rf /path/to/site-packages/matplotlib*
git pull
python setup.py install > build.out
python examples/pylab_examples/simple_plot.py --verbose-debug > run.out

and post :file:`build.out` and :file:`run.out` to the matplotlib-devel mailing list (please do not post svn problems to the users list).

Of course, you will want to clearly describe your problem, what you are expecting and what you are getting, but often a clean build and install will help. See also :ref:`reporting-problems`.