.. The source of this document is INSTALL. During the doc build process,

.. this file is copied over to doc/users/installing.rst.

.. Therefore, you must edit INSTALL, *not* doc/users/installing.rst!

**********

Installing

**********

There are many different ways to install matplotlib, and the best way

depends on what operating system you are using, what you already have

installed, and how you want to use it. To avoid wading through all

the details (and potential complications) on this page, there are several

convenient options.

Installing pre-built packages

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

Most platforms : scientific Python distributions

------------------------------------------------

The first option is to use one of the pre-packaged python

distributions that already provide matplotlib built-in. The

Continuum.io Python distribution (`Anaconda

<https://store.continuum.io/cshop/anaconda/>`_ or `miniconda

<http://conda.pydata.org/miniconda.html>`_) and the Enthought

distribution `(Canopy) <https://www.enthought.com/products/canopy/>`_

are both excellent choices that "just work" out of the box for

Windows, OSX and common Linux platforms. Both of these distributions

include matplotlib and *lots* of other useful tools. Another

excellent alternative for Windows users is `Python (x, y)

<https://code.google.com/p/pythonxy>`_ .

Linux : using your package manager

----------------------------------

If you are on Linux, you might prefer to use your package manager. matplotlib

is packaged for almost every major Linux distribution.

* Debian / Ubuntu : ``sudo apt-get install python-matplotlib``

* Fedora / Redhat : ``sudo yum install python-matplotlib``

Mac OSX : using pip

-------------------

If you are on Mac OSX you can probably install matplotlib binaries using the

standard Python installation program `pip <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip>`_.

See :ref:`install_osx_binaries`.

Windows

-------

If you don't already have Python installed, we recommend using

one of the `scipy-stack compatible Python distributions

<http://www.scipy.org/install.html>`_ such as Python(x,y),

Enthought Canopy, or Continuum Anaconda, which have matplotlib and

many of its dependencies, plus other useful packages, preinstalled.

For `standard Python <http://www.python.org/download/>`_ installations

you will also need to install compatible versions of

`setuptools <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools/>`_,

`numpy <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/numpy/>`_,

`python-dateutil <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-dateutil/>`_,

`pytz <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pytz>`_,

`pyparsing <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyparsing/>`_ and

`six <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/six>`_

in addition to

`matplotlib <http://matplotlib.org/downloads.html>`_.

In case Python is not installed for all users (not the default), the

Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 (

`64 bit <http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15336>`__

or

`32 bit <http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29>`__

for Python 2.6 to 3.2) or Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 (

`64 bit <http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14632>`__

or

`32 bit <http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555>`__

for Python 3.3 and 3.4) redistributable packages need to be installed.

Matplotlib depends on `Pillow <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/Pillow>`_

for reading and saving JPEG, BMP, and TIFF image files.

Matplotlib requires `MiKTeX <http://miktex.org/>`_ and

`GhostScript <http://www.ghostscript.com/download/>`_ for rendering text

with LaTeX.

`FFmpeg <https://www.ffmpeg.org/>`_, `avconv <https://libav.org/>`_,

`mencoder <http://www.mplayerhq.hu>`_, or

`ImageMagick <http://www.imagemagick.org/>`_ are required for the

animation module.

The following backends should work out of the box: agg, tkagg, ps,

pdf and svg.

For other backends you may need to install

`pycairo <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pycairo>`_,

`PyQt4 <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/PyQt4>`_,

`PyQt5 <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/PyQt5>`_,

`PySide <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/PySide>`_,

`wxPython <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/wxPython>`_,

`PyGTK <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/PyGTK>`_,

`Tornado <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/tornado>`_,

or GhostScript.

TkAgg is probably the best backend for interactive use from the

standard Python shell or IPython. It is enabled as the default backend

for the official binaries. GTK3 is not supported on Windows.

The Windows installers (:file:`*.exe`) and wheels (:file:`*.whl`) on

the `download page <http://matplotlib.org/downloads.html>`_ do not

contain test data or example code.

If you want to try the many demos that come in the matplotlib source

distribution, download the :file:`*.tar.gz` file and look in the

:file:`examples` subdirectory.

To run the test suite, copy the :file:`lib\matplotlib\tests` and

:file:`lib\mpl_toolkits\tests` directories from the source distribution to

:file:`sys.prefix\Lib\site-packages\matplotlib` and

:file:`sys.prefix\Lib\site-packages\mpl_toolkits` respectively, and install

`nose <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/nose>`_,

`mock <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/mock>`_,

Pillow, MiKTeX, GhostScript, ffmpeg, avconv, mencoder, ImageMagick, and

`Inkscape <http://inkscape.org/>`_.

.. _install_from_source:

Installing from source

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

If you are interested in contributing to matplotlib development,

running the latest source code, or just like to build everything

yourself, it is not difficult to build matplotlib from source. Grab

the latest *tar.gz* release file from `the download page

<http://matplotlib.org/downloads.html>`_, or if you want

to develop matplotlib or just need the latest bugfixed version, grab

the latest git version :ref:`install-from-git`.

Once you have satisfied the requirements detailed below (mainly

python, numpy, libpng and freetype), you can build matplotlib::

cd matplotlib

python setup.py build

python setup.py install

We provide a `setup.cfg

<https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/raw/master/setup.cfg.template>`_

file that goes with :file:`setup.py` which you can use to customize

the build process. For example, which default backend to use, whether

some of the optional libraries that matplotlib ships with are

installed, and so on. This file will be particularly useful to those

packaging matplotlib.

If you have installed prerequisites to nonstandard places and need to

inform matplotlib where they are, edit ``setupext.py`` and add the base

dirs to the ``basedir`` dictionary entry for your ``sys.platform``.

e.g., if the header to some required library is in

``/some/path/include/someheader.h``, put ``/some/path`` in the

``basedir`` list for your platform.

.. _install_requirements:

Build requirements

------------------

These are external packages which you will need to install before

installing matplotlib. If you are building on OSX, see

:ref:`build_osx`. If you are building on Windows, see

:ref:`build_windows`. If you are installing dependencies with a

package manager on Linux, you may need to install the development

packages (look for a "-dev" postfix) in addition to the libraries

themselves.

Required Dependencies

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

:term:`python` 2.6, 2.7, 3.3 or 3.4

`Download python <http://www.python.org/download/>`_.

:term:`numpy` |minimum_numpy_version| (or later)

array support for python (`download numpy <http://numpy.org>`_)

:term:`dateutil` 1.1 or later

Provides extensions to python datetime handling. If using pip,

easy_install or installing from source, the installer will attempt

to download and install `python_dateutil` from PyPI. Note that

`python_dateutil` also depends on `six`. `pip` and other package

managers should handle installing that secondary dependency

automatically.

`pyparsing`

Required for matplotlib's mathtext math rendering support. If

using pip, easy_install or installing from source, the installer

will attempt to download and install `pyparsing` from PyPI.

six 1.4 or later

Python 2/3 compatibility library. This is also a dependency of

:term:`dateutil`.

libpng 1.2 (or later)

library for loading and saving :term:`PNG` files (`download

<http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html>`__). libpng requires

zlib.

`pytz`

Used to manipulate time-zone aware datetimes.

:term:`freetype` 2.3 or later

library for reading true type font files.

Optional GUI framework

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

These are optional packages which you may want to install to use

matplotlib with a user interface toolkit. See

:ref:`what-is-a-backend` for more details on the optional matplotlib

backends and the capabilities they provide.

:term:`tk` 8.3 or later

The TCL/Tk widgets library used by the TkAgg backend

:term:`pyqt` 4.0 or later

The Qt4 widgets library python wrappers for the Qt4Agg backend

:term:`pygtk` 2.4 or later

The python wrappers for the GTK widgets library for use with the

GTK or GTKAgg backend

:term:`wxpython` 2.8 or later

The python wrappers for the wx widgets library for use with the

WX or WXAgg backend

Optional external programs

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ffmpeg/avconv or mencoder

Required for the animation module to be save out put to movie

formats.

ImageMagick

Required for the animation module to be able to save to animated gif.

Optional dependencies

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

`Pillow <http://python-pillow.github.io/>`__

If Pillow is installed, matplotlib can read and write a larger

selection of image file formats.

Required libraries that ship with matplotlib

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

:term:`agg` 2.4

The antigrain C++ rendering engine. matplotlib links against the

agg template source statically, so it will not affect anything on

your system outside of matplotlib.

`qhull` 2012.1

A library for computing Delaunay triangulations.

`ttconv`

truetype font utility

.. _build_linux:

Building on Linux

-----------------

It is easiest to use your system package manager to install the dependencies.

If you are on Debian/Ubuntu, you can get all the dependencies

required to build matplotlib with::

sudo apt-get build-dep python-matplotlib

If you are on Fedora/RedHat, you can get all the dependencies required

to build matplotlib by first installing ``yum-builddep`` and then

running::

su -c "yum-builddep python-matplotlib"

This does not build matplotlib, but it does get the install the

build dependencies, which will make building from source easier.

.. _build_osx:

Building on OSX

---------------

The build situation on OSX is complicated by the various places one

can get the libpng and freetype requirements (darwinports, fink,

/usr/X11R6) and the different architectures (e.g., x86, ppc, universal) and

the different OSX version (e.g., 10.4 and 10.5). We recommend that you build

the way we do for the OSX release: get the source from the tarball or the

git repository and follow the instruction in :file:`README.osx`.

.. _build_windows:

Building on Windows

-------------------

The Python shipped from http://www.python.org is compiled with Visual Studio

2008 for versions before 3.3 and Visual Studio 2010 for 3.3 and later. Python

extensions are recommended to be compiled with the same compiler. The .NET

Framework 4.0 is required for MSBuild (you'll likely have the requisite

Framework with Visual Studio). In addition to Visual Studio `CMake

<http://www.cmake.org>`_ is required for building libpng.

Since there is no canonical Windows package manager the build methods for

freetype, zlib, libpng, tcl, & tk source code are documented as a build script

at `matplotlib-winbuild <https://github.com/jbmohler/matplotlib-winbuild>`_.