Hi John,
> I hate to nag you about this, but I'm being nagged myself!
> After boasting about Python to my colleagues, I'm glad to
> have them interested in it, but it's proving embarassing that
> it's so troublesome just to install it. I haven't had such
> problems on several other Mac and Linux machines, so there is
> probably something fishy about his OS X install, but I can't
> figure out what it is. Do you have any thoughts on this? Is
> X11 necessary, for example? I'm really at a dead end
> regarding how to pursue this.
I can help you walk through the diagnosis a bit
Stage 1:
Fire up a python shell
* does import pylab cause a segfault?
If so, try importing these 1 by 1 and see where the problem is
import matplotlib._image
import matplotlib._transforms
import matplotlib.ft2font
import matplotlib.numerix
..maybe others but that is a good start
If not, eg you need to try and make a figure to trigger the import, we
want to enable extra verbose debugging.
Flush your build subdir, and edit setup.py to set VERBOSE = True and
recompile (capture the build to a file and post it). This will cause
the extension code to generate verbose output which may isolate the
problem. Run your test code with --verbose-debug-annoying and be
prepared for a deluge of messages.
You might want to flush ~/.matplotlib occassionaly to make sure there
is not something messing with you in the cache.
One possibility is that you are picking up multiple zlibs or libpngs
or libfreetypes, which can lead to segfaults. Try inspecting your
system to make sure you know which of these libsa are installed, which
versions, and where.
I'm putting this back on list in case your response triggers a
lightbulb in some resident OSX expert's head.
Happy hunting!
JDH
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