wrong version of mpl_toolkits imported when installing mpl with python setup.py install --user

[twmr]

I'm on a247d93.

I have a system-wide installation of matplotlib in /usr/lib64/.... and a local one in ~/.local/lib/... The local one was installed using make && python setup.py build && python setup.py install --user. The problem I see is that the system-wide mpl_toolkits package is imported if I try to import mpl_toolkits in a python shell. However, matplotlib is imported from the local installation:

>>> import matplotlib
>>> matplotlib.__file__
'/home/thomas/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib-1.4.x-py2.7-linux-x86_64.egg/matplotlib/__init__.pyc'
>>> import mpl_toolkits
>>> mpl_toolkits.__path__
['/usr/lib64/python2.7/site-packages/mpl_toolkits']

The mpl_toolkits is actually installed in the local installation:

ls /home/thomas/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib-1.4.x-py2.7-linux-x86_64.egg
EGG-INFO  matplotlib  mpl_toolkits  pylab.py  pylab.pyc

[tacaswell]

Is this related to #2611

[mdboom]

Is the global version of matplotlib pre-1.3.x? Prior to matplotlib 1.3.x, mpl_toolkits was not a namespace package, but now it is. I suspect having a "real" package trumps the magic that makes namespace packages work.

There are some solutions:

1. Upgrade your global matplotlib install to 1.3 or later

2. Use a virtualenv --no-system-site-packages and then install matplotlib into that rather than setup.py install --user.

I'm closing this (though we can keep the discussion going) because I don't know if there's anything matplotlib can do from our end.

[twmr]

Probably there was a pre 1.3 version of matplotlib installed. Right now 1.3.0 is installed and I don't have the problem anymore.

Thx