How to fix ImportError in matplotlib

Question

I compiled matplotlib on a mac running snow leopard only to find that when I import matplotlib.pyplot I get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 6, in <module>
    from matplotlib.figure import Figure, figaspect
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/figure.py", line 18, in <module>
    from axes import Axes, SubplotBase, subplot_class_factory
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/axes.py", line 12, in <module>
    import matplotlib.axis as maxis
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/axis.py", line 10, in <module>
    import matplotlib.font_manager as font_manager
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/font_manager.py", line 52, in <module>
    from matplotlib import ft2font
ImportError: dlopen(/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/ft2font.so, 2): Symbol not found: _FT_Attach_File
  Referenced from: /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/ft2font.so
  Expected in: dynamic lookup

How do I fix this?

Answer 1

Building matplotlib on OS X is notoriously fraught with problems linking to mismatched versions of libraries that can be in the system directories, /usr/local, /opt/local, what have you. That's why there is a README.osx file in the source distribution advising you to use the make.osx file provided in the distribution that fetches and compiles the libraries and builds matplotlib against the fetched copy.