FIX: add guardrails for too big tk figures on linux

tacaswell · tacaswell · commit 98b1a76d7c26 · 2020-05-21T17:40:41.000-04:00
Depending on the version of xserver creating a too big tk window either corrupts xorg (!) or causes the process to exit. This adds a guard rail that will convert this into a python exception instead. closes #17460
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/_backend_tk.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/_backend_tk.py
@@ -431,6 +431,16 @@ def _get_toolbar(self):
         return toolbar
 
     def resize(self, width, height):
+        max_size = 1_409_023  # experimentally determined on xorg 1.20.8
+        if (width > max_size or height > max_size) and sys.platform == 'linux':
+            raise ValueError(
+                'You have requested to resize the '
+                f'Tk window to ({width}, {height}), one of which '
+                f'is bigger than {max_size}.  At larger sizes xorg will '
+                'either exit with an error on never versions (~1.20) or '
+                'cause corruption on older version (~1.19).  We '
+                'do not expect a window over a million pixel wide or tall '
+                'to be intended behavior.')
         self.canvas._tkcanvas.configure(width=width, height=height)
 
     def show(self):
