Error in pip install matplotlib in Mac

Question

When I do

pip install matplotlib --upgrade --user

I dont get any error but my program fails saying

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "forest.py", line 22, in <module>
    matplotlib.style.use('ggplot')
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'style'

when I try to upgrade matplotlib without --user I get following error

$ pip install matplotlib --upgrade 
Collecting matplotlib
  Using cached matplotlib-1.5.2-cp27-cp27m-macosx_10_6_intel.macosx_10_9_intel.macosx_10_9_x86_64.macosx_10_10_intel.macosx_10_10_x86_64.whl
Requirement already up-to-date: cycler in /Users/vangapellisanthosh/Library/Python/2.7/lib/python/site-packages (from matplotlib)
Collecting pyparsing!=2.0.0,!=2.0.4,!=2.1.2,>=1.5.6 (from matplotlib)
  Using cached pyparsing-2.1.8-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Collecting pytz (from matplotlib)
  Using cached pytz-2016.6.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Collecting numpy>=1.6 (from matplotlib)
  Using cached numpy-1.11.1-cp27-cp27m-macosx_10_6_intel.macosx_10_9_intel.macosx_10_9_x86_64.macosx_10_10_intel.macosx_10_10_x86_64.whl
Collecting python-dateutil (from matplotlib)
  Using cached python_dateutil-2.5.3-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Collecting six (from cycler->matplotlib)
  Using cached six-1.10.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Installing collected packages: pyparsing, pytz, numpy, six, python-dateutil, matplotlib
  Found existing installation: pyparsing 2.0.1
    DEPRECATION: Uninstalling a distutils installed project (pyparsing) has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version. This is due to the fact that uninstalling a distutils project will only partially uninstall the project.
    Uninstalling pyparsing-2.0.1:
Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/basecommand.py", line 215, in main
    status = self.run(options, args)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/commands/install.py", line 317, in run
    prefix=options.prefix_path,
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/req/req_set.py", line 736, in install
    requirement.uninstall(auto_confirm=True)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/req/req_install.py", line 742, in uninstall
    paths_to_remove.remove(auto_confirm)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/req/req_uninstall.py", line 115, in remove
    renames(path, new_path)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/utils/__init__.py", line 267, in renames
    shutil.move(old, new)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 302, in move
    copy2(src, real_dst)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 131, in copy2
    copystat(src, dst)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 103, in copystat
    os.chflags(dst, st.st_flags)
OSError: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/var/folders/7j/19zzrqpn5dl6ghw1pms6k2m80000gp/T/pip-FEDiKY-uninstall/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/pyparsing-2.0.1-py2.7.egg-info'

How do i solve it?

Answer 1

Try

sudo pip install matplotlib --upgrade --ignore-installed six

Using pip to install certain packages for OS X El Capitan or greater has spawned this generic problem. Hopefully this solution works for you as it has worked for me.