unable to install Matplotlib, freetype and Harfbuzz on osx yosemite

Question

I am trying to install matplotlib, but to do so I need freetype. But freetype doesn't install because it needs harfbuzz. But harfbuzz after the ./configure --with-glib=no followed by make gives me at the end of the list:

libtool: link: warning: `-version-info/-version-number' is ignored for convenience libraries
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/ranlib: file: .libs/libharfbuzz-fuzzing.a(libharfbuzz_fuzzing_la-hb-warning.o) has no symbols
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/ranlib: file: .libs/libharfbuzz-fuzzing.a(libharfbuzz_fuzzing_la-hb-warning.o) has no symbols
  CXXLD    hb-fuzzer
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `all-am'.
Making all in docs
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.

so when I run sudo make install afterwards, I get this at the end of the list:

make[2]: Nothing to be done for `install-exec-am'.
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `install-data-am'.

All I want at the end is the line in IDLE

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

to work so I can develop my graphic interface.

The crazy part is that freetype needs harfbuzz to be installed.

Answer 1

It looks like you're doing a fully manual install. The numpy / matplotlib stack can be difficult to compile without fully understanding all the library dependencies and how they interact. Unless you really need to compile from source yourself I would recommend using MacPorts https://www.macports.org and installing matplotlib from its package manager (the port command). This will avoid a lot of extra effort and is reliable in my experience of it.