Change behavior of font.* rcParams so they take effect only on to-b…

…e-created text objects

doc/api/api_changes.rst

@@ -15,7 +15,12 @@ For new features that were added to matplotlib, please see
 Changes in 1.3.x
 ================
 
-* Fixed a bug in setting the position for the right/top spine with data 
+* The `font.*` rcParams now affect only text objects created after the
+  rcParam has been set, and will not retroactively affect already
+  existing text objects.  This brings their behavior in line with most
+  other rcParams.
+
+* Fixed a bug in setting the position for the right/top spine with data
   position type. Previously, it would draw the right or top spine at
   +1 data offset.
 

doc/users/whats_new.rst

@@ -33,6 +33,13 @@ simply call `pyplot.xkcd` before creating your plot.
 .. plot:: mpl_examples/showcase/xkcd.py
 
 
+Changes to font rcParams
+------------------------
+The `font.*` rcParams now affect only text objects created after the
+rcParam has been set, and will not retroactively affect already
+existing text objects.  This brings their behavior in line with most
+other rcParams.
+
 ``axes.xmargin`` and ``axes.ymargin`` added to rcParams
 -------------------------------------------------------
 ``rcParam`` values (``axes.xmargin`` and ``axes.ymargin``) were added

lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py

@@ -808,18 +808,19 @@ def set_family(self, family):
         'fantasy', or 'monospace', or a real font name.
         """
         if family is None:
-            self._family = None
-        else:
-            if is_string_like(family):
-                family = [family]
-            self._family = family
+            family = rcParams['font.family']
+        if is_string_like(family):
+            family = [family]
+        self._family = family
     set_name = set_family
 
     def set_style(self, style):
         """
         Set the font style.  Values are: 'normal', 'italic' or
         'oblique'.
         """
+        if style is None:
+            style = rcParams['font.style']
         if style not in ('normal', 'italic', 'oblique', None):
             raise ValueError("style must be normal, italic or oblique")
         self._slant = style
@@ -829,6 +830,8 @@ def set_variant(self, variant):
         """
         Set the font variant.  Values are: 'normal' or 'small-caps'.
         """
+        if variant is None:
+            variant = rcParams['font.variant']
         if variant not in ('normal', 'small-caps', None):
             raise ValueError("variant must be normal or small-caps")
         self._variant = variant
@@ -840,14 +843,15 @@ def set_weight(self, weight):
         'regular', 'book', 'medium', 'roman', 'semibold', 'demibold',
         'demi', 'bold', 'heavy', 'extra bold', 'black'
         """
-        if weight is not None:
-            try:
-                weight = int(weight)
-                if weight < 0 or weight > 1000:
-                    raise ValueError()
-            except ValueError:
-                if weight not in weight_dict:
-                    raise ValueError("weight is invalid")
+        if weight is None:
+            weight = rcParams['font.weight']
+        try:
+            weight = int(weight)
+            if weight < 0 or weight > 1000:
+                raise ValueError()
+        except ValueError:
+            if weight not in weight_dict:
+                raise ValueError("weight is invalid")
         self._weight = weight
 
     def set_stretch(self, stretch):
@@ -857,14 +861,15 @@ def set_stretch(self, stretch):
         'semi-expanded', 'expanded', 'extra-expanded' or
         'ultra-expanded', or a numeric value in the range 0-1000.
         """
-        if stretch is not None:
-            try:
-                stretch = int(stretch)
-                if stretch < 0 or stretch > 1000:
-                    raise ValueError()
-            except ValueError:
-                if stretch not in stretch_dict:
-                    raise ValueError("stretch is invalid")
+        if stretch is None:
+            stretch = rcParams['font.weight']
+        try:
+            stretch = int(stretch)
+            if stretch < 0 or stretch > 1000:
+                raise ValueError()
+        except ValueError:
+            if stretch not in stretch_dict:
+                raise ValueError("stretch is invalid")
         self._stretch = stretch
 
     def set_size(self, size):
@@ -873,12 +878,13 @@ def set_size(self, size):
         'x-small', 'small', 'medium', 'large', 'x-large', 'xx-large'
         or an absolute font size, e.g., 12.
         """
-        if size is not None:
-            try:
-                size = float(size)
-            except ValueError:
-                if size is not None and size not in font_scalings:
-                    raise ValueError("size is invalid")
+        if size is None:
+            size = rcParams['font.size']
+        try:
+            size = float(size)
+        except ValueError:
+            if size is not None and size not in font_scalings:
+                raise ValueError("size is invalid")
         self._size = size
 
     def set_file(self, file):

lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py

@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ def validate_colorlist(s):
 
 def validate_stringlist(s):
     'return a list'
-    if type(s) is str:
+    if type(s) in (str, unicode):
         return [v.strip() for v in s.split(',')]
     else:
         assert type(s) in [list, tuple]
@@ -513,7 +513,7 @@ def __call__(self, s):
 
 
     ## font props
-    'font.family':     ['sans-serif', str],       # used by text object
+    'font.family':     ['sans-serif', validate_stringlist],  # used by text object
     'font.style':      ['normal', str],
     'font.variant':    ['normal', str],
     'font.stretch':    ['normal', str],