Python - Installing matplotlib in Mac OSX Snow Leopard

Question

I've been having trouble installing matplotlib. I'm getting a similar error to many other topics, but none of those solutions have been working for me. I have tried installing matplotlib via pip and via git and I receive the same error every time I would very much appreciate help.

In file included from src/ft2font.cpp:3:
src/ft2font.h:16:22: error: ft2build.h: No such file or directory
src/ft2font.h:17:10: error: #include expects "FILENAME" or <FILENAME>
src/ft2font.h:18:10: error: #include expects "FILENAME" or <FILENAME>
src/ft2font.h:19:10: error: #include expects "FILENAME" or <FILENAME>
src/ft2font.h:20:10: error: #include expects "FILENAME" or <FILENAME>
src/ft2font.h:21:10: error: #include expects "FILENAME" or <FILENAME>
In file included from src/ft2font.cpp:3:
src/ft2font.h:34: error: 'FT_Bitmap' has not been declared
src/ft2font.h:34: error: 'FT_Int' has not been declared
src/ft2font.h:34: error: 'FT_Int' has not been declared
src/ft2font.h:86: error: expected ',' or '...' before '&' token
src/ft2font.h:86: error: ISO C++ forbids declaration of 'FT_Face' with no type
src/ft2font.h:132: error: 'FT_Face' does not name a type
src/ft2font.h:133: error: 'FT_Matrix' does not name a type
src/ft2font.h:134: error: 'FT_Vector' does not name a type
src/ft2font.h:135: error: 'FT_Error' does not name a type
src/ft2font.h:136: error: 'FT_Glyph' was not declared in this scope
src/ft2font.h:136: error: template argument 1 is invalid
src/ft2font.h:136: error: template argument 2 is invalid
src/ft2font.h:137: error: 'FT_Vector' was not declared in this scope
src/ft2font.h:137: error: template argument 1 is invalid
src/ft2font.h:137: error: template argument 2 is invalid
src/ft2font.h:143: error: 'FT_BBox' does not name a type
src/ft2font.cpp:41: error: 'FT_Library' does not name a type
src/ft2font.cpp:106: error: variable or field 'draw_bitmap' declared void
src/ft2font.cpp:106: error: 'FT_Bitmap' was not declared in this scope
src/ft2font.cpp:106: error: 'bitmap' was not declared in this scope
src/ft2font.cpp:107: error: 'FT_Int' was not declared in this scope
src/ft2font.cpp:108: error: 'FT_Int' was not declared in this scope
/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/numpy/core/include/numpy/__multiarray_api.h:1532: warning: 'int _import_array()' defined but not used
error: command '/usr/bin/gcc-4.2' failed with exit status 1

Looks like you're running into problems with freetype2. Two ways around it are to install homebrew and install python that way, then do brew install freetype and install matplotlib with that python. The alternative is to install Quartz X11, which will give you much newer and updated freetype libs. — wkl
– wkl, Commented May 9, 2012 at 0:55
Although you can use a package manager like MacPorts or homebrew to install matplotlib on OS X, if you are interested in a method that uses only the XCode-provided freetype and libpng libraries, see my answer to a related question here. — mhowison
– mhowison, Commented Jun 1, 2012 at 1:59

David Ketcheson · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-20 21:10:09Z

7

I had the same problem. I use brew. I fixed this by doing

brew install freetype
brew link freetype
brew install libpng
brew link libpng
brew install matplotlib

By default, brew leaves your system versions of freetype and libpng active, which is why you need to do "brew link" as well. Hope that helps.

Update: I would now recommend using the free version of Anaconda Python. Then this is trivial.

edited Sep 20, 2013 at 21:10

answered Oct 6, 2012 at 12:11

David Ketcheson

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1 Comment

alexandroid Over a year ago

Looks like newer versions of Homebrew require using --force for linking, i.e. brew link --force freetype etc. Other than that, these steps worked perfectly, thanks!

Eric O. Lebigot · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-09 07:18:11Z

4

I would strongly recommend to go through a package manager instead of trying to compile source code by yourself. This is much more efficient.

An nice alternative to homebrew is the famous MacPorts package manager:

sudo port install py27-matplotlib

I used Fink, the third major package manager for OS X, in the past, and I find MacPorts significantly more robust and up-to-date.

There are many comparisons between the OS X package managers on the web (including some nice ones), so that you can better decide which manager to commit to.

edited May 9, 2012 at 7:18

answered May 9, 2012 at 7:08

Eric O. Lebigot

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Glorfindel · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-12 09:00:49Z

1

You can doit in easy way with homebrew:

$ brew install python
$ brew install gfortran
$ brew install pkg-config
$ easy_install pip
$ pip install numpy
$ cd $HOME
$ git clone https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib.git
$ cd matplotlib
$ python setup.py build
$ python setup.py install

edited Jan 12, 2022 at 9:00

Glorfindel

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answered May 9, 2012 at 0:53

Voislav Sauca

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1 Comment

tilteddriveway Over a year ago

if i run python setup.py build or python setup.py install it gives the above message still

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