Cartopy examples produce a Segmentation fault

Question

Cartopy can't draw virtually anything. Even a simple example results in a segfault. Segmentation fault is all Python 3.7.0 says before crashing. So does Python 3.6.6.

The faulty line appear to be ax.coastlines().

ax.gridlines() gives the same silent segfault as well.

matplotlib is 2.2.3.

Cartopy is the most recent by the date, 0.16.0, installed with pip. All the requirements (six, pyshp, setuptools, shapely, numpy) are met. Reinstalling with pip doesn't help. Installing the same Cartopy version from repo doesn't help either. The OS is Debian 10 (beta).

The same outcome is with Cartopy 0.15.1.

What else can I check to find the cause of the segfault?

Just in case, matplotlib.rcParams are the following:

_internal.classic_mode: False
agg.path.chunksize: 0
animation.avconv_args: []
animation.avconv_path: avconv
animation.bitrate: -1
animation.codec: h264
animation.convert_args: []
animation.convert_path: convert
animation.embed_limit: 20.0
animation.ffmpeg_args: []
animation.ffmpeg_path: ffmpeg
animation.frame_format: png
animation.html: none
animation.html_args: []
animation.writer: ffmpeg
axes.autolimit_mode: data
axes.axisbelow: line
axes.edgecolor: k
axes.facecolor: w
axes.formatter.limits: [-7, 7]
axes.formatter.min_exponent: 0
axes.formatter.offset_threshold: 4
axes.formatter.use_locale: False
axes.formatter.use_mathtext: False
axes.formatter.useoffset: True
axes.grid: False
axes.grid.axis: both
axes.grid.which: major
axes.hold: None
axes.labelcolor: k
axes.labelpad: 4.0
axes.labelsize: medium
axes.labelweight: normal
axes.linewidth: 0.8
axes.prop_cycle: cycler('color', ['#1f77b4', '#ff7f0e', '#2ca02c', '#d62728', '#9467bd', '#8c564b', '#e377c2', '#7f7f7f', '#bcbd22', '#17becf'])
axes.spines.bottom: True
axes.spines.left: True
axes.spines.right: True
axes.spines.top: True
axes.titlepad: 6.0
axes.titlesize: large
axes.titleweight: normal
axes.unicode_minus: True
axes.xmargin: 0.05
axes.ymargin: 0.05
axes3d.grid: True
backend: TkAgg
backend.qt4: None
backend.qt5: None
backend_fallback: True
boxplot.bootstrap: None
boxplot.boxprops.color: k
boxplot.boxprops.linestyle: -
boxplot.boxprops.linewidth: 1.0
boxplot.capprops.color: k
boxplot.capprops.linestyle: -
boxplot.capprops.linewidth: 1.0
boxplot.flierprops.color: k
boxplot.flierprops.linestyle: none
boxplot.flierprops.linewidth: 1.0
boxplot.flierprops.marker: o
boxplot.flierprops.markeredgecolor: k
boxplot.flierprops.markerfacecolor: none
boxplot.flierprops.markersize: 6.0
boxplot.meanline: False
boxplot.meanprops.color: C2
boxplot.meanprops.linestyle: --
boxplot.meanprops.linewidth: 1.0
boxplot.meanprops.marker: ^
boxplot.meanprops.markeredgecolor: C2
boxplot.meanprops.markerfacecolor: C2
boxplot.meanprops.markersize: 6.0
boxplot.medianprops.color: C1
boxplot.medianprops.linestyle: -
boxplot.medianprops.linewidth: 1.0
boxplot.notch: False
boxplot.patchartist: False
boxplot.showbox: True
boxplot.showcaps: True
boxplot.showfliers: True
boxplot.showmeans: False
boxplot.vertical: True
boxplot.whiskerprops.color: k
boxplot.whiskerprops.linestyle: -
boxplot.whiskerprops.linewidth: 1.0
boxplot.whiskers: 1.5
contour.corner_mask: True
contour.negative_linestyle: dashed
datapath: /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/mpl-data
date.autoformatter.day: %Y-%m-%d
date.autoformatter.hour: %m-%d %H
date.autoformatter.microsecond: %M:%S.%f
date.autoformatter.minute: %d %H:%M
date.autoformatter.month: %Y-%m
date.autoformatter.second: %H:%M:%S
date.autoformatter.year: %Y
docstring.hardcopy: False
errorbar.capsize: 0.0
examples.directory: 
figure.autolayout: False
figure.constrained_layout.h_pad: 0.04167
figure.constrained_layout.hspace: 0.02
figure.constrained_layout.use: False
figure.constrained_layout.w_pad: 0.04167
figure.constrained_layout.wspace: 0.02
figure.dpi: 100.0
figure.edgecolor: w
figure.facecolor: w
figure.figsize: [6.4, 4.8]
figure.frameon: True
figure.max_open_warning: 20
figure.subplot.bottom: 0.11
figure.subplot.hspace: 0.2
figure.subplot.left: 0.125
figure.subplot.right: 0.9
figure.subplot.top: 0.88
figure.subplot.wspace: 0.2
figure.titlesize: large
figure.titleweight: normal
font.cursive: ['Apple Chancery', 'Textile', 'Zapf Chancery', 'Sand', 'Script MT', 'Felipa', 'cursive']
font.family: ['sans-serif']
font.fantasy: ['Comic Sans MS', 'Chicago', 'Charcoal', 'ImpactWestern', 'Humor Sans', 'xkcd', 'fantasy']
font.monospace: ['DejaVu Sans Mono', 'Bitstream Vera Sans Mono', 'Computer Modern Typewriter', 'Andale Mono', 'Nimbus Mono L', 'Courier New', 'Courier', 'Fixed', 'Terminal', 'monospace']
font.sans-serif: ['DejaVu Sans', 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'Computer Modern Sans Serif', 'Lucida Grande', 'Verdana', 'Geneva', 'Lucid', 'Arial', 'Helvetica', 'Avant Garde', 'sans-serif']
font.serif: ['DejaVu Serif', 'Bitstream Vera Serif', 'Computer Modern Roman', 'New Century Schoolbook', 'Century Schoolbook L', 'Utopia', 'ITC Bookman', 'Bookman', 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', 'Times', 'Palatino', 'Charter', 'serif']
font.size: 10.0
font.stretch: normal
font.style: normal
font.variant: normal
font.weight: normal
grid.alpha: 1.0
grid.color: #b0b0b0
grid.linestyle: -
grid.linewidth: 0.8
hatch.color: k
hatch.linewidth: 1.0
hist.bins: 10
image.aspect: equal
image.cmap: viridis
image.composite_image: True
image.interpolation: nearest
image.lut: 256
image.origin: upper
image.resample: True
interactive: False
keymap.all_axes: ['a']
keymap.back: ['left', 'c', 'backspace']
keymap.forward: ['right', 'v']
keymap.fullscreen: ['f', 'ctrl+f']
keymap.grid: ['g']
keymap.grid_minor: ['G']
keymap.home: ['h', 'r', 'home']
keymap.pan: ['p']
keymap.quit: ['ctrl+w', 'cmd+w', 'q']
keymap.quit_all: ['W', 'cmd+W', 'Q']
keymap.save: ['s', 'ctrl+s']
keymap.xscale: ['k', 'L']
keymap.yscale: ['l']
keymap.zoom: ['o']
legend.borderaxespad: 0.5
legend.borderpad: 0.4
legend.columnspacing: 2.0
legend.edgecolor: 0.8
legend.facecolor: inherit
legend.fancybox: True
legend.fontsize: medium
legend.framealpha: 0.8
legend.frameon: True
legend.handleheight: 0.7
legend.handlelength: 2.0
legend.handletextpad: 0.8
legend.labelspacing: 0.5
legend.loc: best
legend.markerscale: 1.0
legend.numpoints: 1
legend.scatterpoints: 1
legend.shadow: False
lines.antialiased: True
lines.color: C0
lines.dash_capstyle: butt
lines.dash_joinstyle: round
lines.dashdot_pattern: [6.4, 1.6, 1.0, 1.6]
lines.dashed_pattern: [3.7, 1.6]
lines.dotted_pattern: [1.0, 1.65]
lines.linestyle: -
lines.linewidth: 1.5
lines.marker: None
lines.markeredgewidth: 1.0
lines.markersize: 6.0
lines.scale_dashes: True
lines.solid_capstyle: projecting
lines.solid_joinstyle: round
markers.fillstyle: full
mathtext.bf: sans:bold
mathtext.cal: cursive
mathtext.default: it
mathtext.fallback_to_cm: True
mathtext.fontset: dejavusans
mathtext.it: sans:italic
mathtext.rm: sans
mathtext.sf: sans
mathtext.tt: monospace
patch.antialiased: True
patch.edgecolor: k
patch.facecolor: C0
patch.force_edgecolor: False
patch.linewidth: 1.0
path.effects: []
path.simplify: True
path.simplify_threshold: 0.1111111111111111
path.sketch: None
path.snap: True
pdf.compression: 6
pdf.fonttype: 3
pdf.inheritcolor: False
pdf.use14corefonts: False
pgf.debug: False
pgf.preamble: []
pgf.rcfonts: True
pgf.texsystem: xelatex
polaraxes.grid: True
ps.distiller.res: 6000
ps.fonttype: 3
ps.papersize: letter
ps.useafm: False
ps.usedistiller: False
savefig.bbox: None
savefig.directory: ~
savefig.dpi: figure
savefig.edgecolor: w
savefig.facecolor: w
savefig.format: png
savefig.frameon: True
savefig.jpeg_quality: 95
savefig.orientation: portrait
savefig.pad_inches: 0.1
savefig.transparent: False
scatter.marker: o
svg.fonttype: path
svg.hashsalt: None
svg.image_inline: True
text.antialiased: True
text.color: k
text.hinting: auto
text.hinting_factor: 8
text.latex.preamble: []
text.latex.preview: False
text.latex.unicode: False
text.usetex: False
timezone: UTC
tk.window_focus: False
toolbar: toolbar2
verbose.fileo: sys.stdout
verbose.level: silent
webagg.address: 127.0.0.1
webagg.open_in_browser: True
webagg.port: 8988
webagg.port_retries: 50
xtick.alignment: center
xtick.bottom: True
xtick.color: k
xtick.direction: out
xtick.labelbottom: True
xtick.labelsize: medium
xtick.labeltop: False
xtick.major.bottom: True
xtick.major.pad: 3.5
xtick.major.size: 3.5
xtick.major.top: True
xtick.major.width: 0.8
xtick.minor.bottom: True
xtick.minor.pad: 3.4
xtick.minor.size: 2.0
xtick.minor.top: True
xtick.minor.visible: False
xtick.minor.width: 0.6
xtick.top: False
ytick.alignment: center_baseline
ytick.color: k
ytick.direction: out
ytick.labelleft: True
ytick.labelright: False
ytick.labelsize: medium
ytick.left: True
ytick.major.left: True
ytick.major.pad: 3.5
ytick.major.right: True
ytick.major.size: 3.5
ytick.major.width: 0.8
ytick.minor.left: True
ytick.minor.pad: 3.4
ytick.minor.right: True
ytick.minor.size: 2.0
ytick.minor.visible: False
ytick.minor.width: 0.6
ytick.right: False

Answer 1

Finally, I found this comment. The issue describes different symptoms but the suggested solution works:

pip uninstall shapely
pip install --no-binary :all: shapely