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

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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.