Matplotlib install issues. Pip Centos - Freetype "Missing" when it is installed

Question

I am using a virtualenv for a django setup. I am trying to build a view that pulls data from logs and then graphs the data. Eventually I would like to have this real-time and live. If you have any recommendations on other solutions that would suit my project best, please do not hesitate to include them in the comment fields below. I have attempted to install matplotlib from pip using pip install matplotlib. I receive the following message: ``` * The following required packages can not be built: * freetype ``` I then validated that it was installed ``` yum install freetype Package freetype-2.3.11-14.el6_3.1.x86_64 already installed and latest version ``` I then found that there is a python-matplotlib which is an older version .99. However, I want to keep this inside of the virtual environment and not system wide. ``` find / -name *freetype* /var/lib/yum/yumdb/f/d2807dcfe3762c0b9f8ef1d9bf0f05788e73282a-freetype-2.3.11-14.el6_3.1- x86_64 /usr/lib64/libfreetype.so.6.3.22 /usr/lib64/libfre…

Accepted Answer

pip is going to compile matlibplot on your local machine, so you'll need freetype development headers installed as well.

CentOS 6+, Fedora, etc.:

```
$ sudo yum -y install freetype freetype-devel libpng-devel
```

On older operating systems (e.g. CentOS 5), you may run into a more specific freetype versioning issue with newer releases of matlibplot. If you're version agnostic, sticking with a legacy 1.3.x release will negate these dependency issues:

```
$ pip install matplotlib==1.3.1
```

Please note, you may need to downgrade your numpy to 1.8 in order to make matplotlib 1.3 work.

```
$ pip install numpy==1.8
```

Good luck!

Matplotlib install issues. Pip Centos - Freetype "Missing" when it is installed

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