matplotlib-devel Mailing List for matplotlib

On 10/02/2013 01:34 PM, Russell E. Owen wrote:
> In article <524...@st...>,
> Michael Droettboom <md...@st...>
> wrote:
>
>> I haven't heard of this issue before.
>>
>> fc-list comes from the fontconfig project. It is used to get a list of
>> all of the fonts installed on the system. It sounds like there is some
>> bug there -- the usual culprit is that there is a slightly non-standard
>> font installed on the system and fontconfig has a hard time parsing it.
>> You could try updating fc-list (it's in all the major package managers).
>>
>> As for a workaround from our end, we could try to set a timeout on
>> fc-list and just skip it if it takes too long. We can't rely on it
>> being there on a Mac at all, so already we gracefully degrade to a less
>> thorough search for fonts when fc-list can't be found.
> Thanks for the advice. A defective font is an interesting possibility.
>
> I was wrong it's new in 1.3.0; turns out it's seen in much older
> versions of my application (back to using mpl 1.0.0), but apparently on
> few machines.
>
> The issue showed up when I added some fancy animated strip charts to my
> application (which may be a coincidence), not when I upgraded mpl.
>
> I'm surprised the timeout on fc-list isn't working.
We don't currently do a timeout -- we make a blocking call to fc-list. 
I was only suggesting it as a possible fix for this problem.
> Maybe something else
> is also using fc-list, but the fix is to add an ~/.matplotlib dir, which
> suggests it's an mpl issue.
When you copy over the .matplotlib dir, you copy over the font cache. 
When matplotlib finds a font cache, it doesn't need to generate a list 
of fonts, so thus doesn't need to call fc-list. But copying font caches 
from one machine to another is unlikely to work (the set of fonts and 
their locations is quite likely different). Worse yet, if matplotlib 
attempts to look up a font and finds that it isn't where the cache says 
it is, it regenerates the cache again, and thus you could get this 
hanging anyway.
Mike
>
> -- Russell
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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http://www.droettboom.com

In article <524...@st...>,
 Michael Droettboom <md...@st...> 
 wrote:
> I haven't heard of this issue before.
> 
> fc-list comes from the fontconfig project. It is used to get a list of 
> all of the fonts installed on the system. It sounds like there is some 
> bug there -- the usual culprit is that there is a slightly non-standard 
> font installed on the system and fontconfig has a hard time parsing it. 
> You could try updating fc-list (it's in all the major package managers).
> 
> As for a workaround from our end, we could try to set a timeout on 
> fc-list and just skip it if it takes too long. We can't rely on it 
> being there on a Mac at all, so already we gracefully degrade to a less 
> thorough search for fonts when fc-list can't be found.
Thanks for the advice. A defective font is an interesting possibility.
I was wrong it's new in 1.3.0; turns out it's seen in much older 
versions of my application (back to using mpl 1.0.0), but apparently on 
few machines. 
The issue showed up when I added some fancy animated strip charts to my 
application (which may be a coincidence), not when I upgraded mpl.
I'm surprised the timeout on fc-list isn't working. Maybe something else 
is also using fc-list, but the fix is to add an ~/.matplotlib dir, which 
suggests it's an mpl issue.
-- Russell

I think the poll is in, and it looks like the best time for us to meet 
is Thursdays, 14:00 - 16:00 UTC.
Given some other commitments, I can't make it until October 24. Does 
that work? I've tentatively added it to the matplotlib calendar.
Mike
On 09/18/2013 11:50 AM, Michael Droettboom wrote:
> As I had considered doing a while ago, I think it might be beneficial to
> start having regular Google Hangouts for matplotlib. I'm thinking
> monthly is probably adequate for now while we experiment with the format.
>
> As you may know, Google Hangouts has a maximum number of 10
> participants, but an unlimited number of people may watch both live and
> from the archive. I believe also (correct me if I'm wrong) there is no
> such limit on the people who can participate by text chat.
>
> I've created a "Doodle" poll [1] to help find a time during the week
> that would be best for most.
>
> [1] http://doodle.com/fek9q2wsyegg6ytt
>
> I figure many of these meetings will include a "core" group of people
> with "special guests" for various specific topics as they arise. Anyone
> can fill out the poll, but please send me an e-mail off list if you plan
> to attend on a regular basis rather than just drop in when possible so I
> can prioritize things. Once we've determined a good time of the week
> for everyone, I'll schedule the next 6 or so months on the matplotlib
> Google calendar [2].
>
> [2]
> https://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/79hk8jhvlks8jn8ds4ri1e6q4g%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic
>
> Cheers,
> Mike
>
-- 
 _
|\/|o _|_ _. _ | | \.__ __|__|_|_ _ _ ._ _
| ||(_| |(_|(/_| |_/|(_)(/_|_ |_|_)(_)(_)| | |
http://www.droettboom.com

I haven't heard of this issue before.
fc-list comes from the fontconfig project. It is used to get a list of 
all of the fonts installed on the system. It sounds like there is some 
bug there -- the usual culprit is that there is a slightly non-standard 
font installed on the system and fontconfig has a hard time parsing it. 
You could try updating fc-list (it's in all the major package managers).
As for a workaround from our end, we could try to set a timeout on 
fc-list and just skip it if it takes too long. We can't rely on it 
being there on a Mac at all, so already we gracefully degrade to a less 
thorough search for fonts when fc-list can't be found.
Mike
On 10/01/2013 08:15 PM, Russell E. Owen wrote:
> I distribute a Mac application using matplotlib.
>
> Recent versions that use matplotlib 1.3.0 fail to run on some new
> accounts. The symptoms are that the application never finishes loading
> and a task named "fc-list" takes up 100% of a core -- for as long as
> we've let it run (a good fraction of an hour).
>
> The only solution we've found is to copy ~/.matplotlib from an account
> where it works to the new account.
>
> It is reproducible on some machines, but unfortunately not mine. When I
> create a new account on my machine I do not see the problem. Thus I have
> not yet been able to come up with a minimal case that shows the problem.
> I'll try to get more info.
>
> Is this is a known issue?
>
> -- Russell
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> October Webinars: Code for Performance
> Free Intel webinars can help you accelerate application performance.
> Explore tips for MPI, OpenMP, advanced profiling, and more. Get the most from
> the latest Intel processors and coprocessors. See abstracts and register >
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=60134791&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
-- 
 _
|\/|o _|_ _. _ | | \.__ __|__|_|_ _ _ ._ _
| ||(_| |(_|(/_| |_/|(_)(/_|_ |_|_)(_)(_)| | |
http://www.droettboom.com

I distribute a Mac application using matplotlib.
Recent versions that use matplotlib 1.3.0 fail to run on some new 
accounts. The symptoms are that the application never finishes loading 
and a task named "fc-list" takes up 100% of a core -- for as long as 
we've let it run (a good fraction of an hour).
The only solution we've found is to copy ~/.matplotlib from an account 
where it works to the new account.
It is reproducible on some machines, but unfortunately not mine. When I 
create a new account on my machine I do not see the problem. Thus I have 
not yet been able to come up with a minimal case that shows the problem. 
I'll try to get more info.
Is this is a known issue?
-- Russell