matplotlib installation issue python 3

Question

I am trying to install metaplotlib on ubuntu 14.04 within pycharm and get the following error:

TypeError: unorderable types: str() < int()

ubuntu 14.04 64bits pycharm running python 3

The traceback is:

DEPRECATION: --no-install, --no-download, --build, and --no-clean are deprecated.  Downloading/unpacking matplotlib   Running setup.py (path:/tmp/pycharm-packaging7.tmp/matplotlib/setup.py) egg_info for package matplotlib
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<string>", line 17, in <module>
      File "/tmp/pycharm-packaging7.tmp/matplotlib/setup.py", line 155, in <module>
        result = package.check()
      File "/tmp/pycharm-packaging7.tmp/matplotlib/setupext.py", line 961, in check
        min_version='2.3', version=version)
      File "/tmp/pycharm-packaging7.tmp/matplotlib/setupext.py", line 445, in _check_for_pkg_config
        if (not is_min_version(version, min_version)):
      File "/tmp/pycharm-packaging7.tmp/matplotlib/setupext.py", line 173, in is_min_version
        return found_version >= expected_version
      File "/usr/lib/python3.4/distutils/version.py", line 76, in __ge__
        c = self._cmp(other)
      File "/usr/lib/python3.4/distutils/version.py", line 343, in _cmp
        if self.version < other.version:
    TypeError: unorderable types: str() < int()
    ============================================================================
    Edit setup.cfg to change the build options

    BUILDING MATPLOTLIB
                matplotlib: yes [1.4.3]
                    python: yes [3.4.0 (default, Apr 11 2014, 13:05:11)  [GCC
                            4.8.2]]
                  platform: yes [linux]

    REQUIRED DEPENDENCIES AND EXTENSIONS
                     numpy: yes [version 1.9.2]
                       six: yes [using six version 1.5.2]
                  dateutil: yes [using dateutil version 2.4.2]
                      pytz: yes [using pytz version 2015.2]
                   tornado: yes [using tornado version 4.1]
                 pyparsing: yes [using pyparsing version 2.0.1]
                     pycxx: yes [Official versions of PyCXX are not compatible
                            with matplotlib on Python 3.x, since they lack
                            support for the buffer object.  Using local copy]
                    libagg: yes [pkg-config information for 'libagg' could not
                            be found. Using local copy.]
    Complete output from command python setup.py egg_info:
    Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "<string>", line 17, in <module>

  File "/tmp/pycharm-packaging7.tmp/matplotlib/setup.py", line 155, in <module>

    result = package.check()

  File "/tmp/pycharm-packaging7.tmp/matplotlib/setupext.py", line 961, in check

    min_version='2.3', version=version)

  File "/tmp/pycharm-packaging7.tmp/matplotlib/setupext.py", line 445, in _check_for_pkg_config

    if (not is_min_version(version, min_version)):

  File "/tmp/pycharm-packaging7.tmp/matplotlib/setupext.py", line 173, in is_min_version

    return found_version >= expected_version

  File "/usr/lib/python3.4/distutils/version.py", line 76, in __ge__

    c = self._cmp(other)

  File "/usr/lib/python3.4/distutils/version.py", line 343, in _cmp

    if self.version < other.version:

TypeError: unorderable types: str() < int()

============================================================================

Edit setup.cfg to change the build options

Can someone please advise? Thanks

Answer 1

I was getting the same error and was able to solve it by installing libfreetype6-dev and libpng12-dev.

sudo apt-get install libfreetype6-dev libpng12-dev

Thanks to @koukouviou for pointing the upstream bug report, which considerably sped up the solution finding process.

Answer 2

There's a closed issue in matplotlib's github tracker for this. It's not a problem with matplotlib but with other packages (freetype and png are mentioned in the discussion).

According to the discussion the error message is more descriptive in the master branch:

• The following required packages can not be built: * freetype, png