Python - Installing matplotlib in Mac OSX Snow Leopard
Question: I've been having trouble installing matplotlib. I'm getting a similar error to
many other topics, but none of those solutions have been working for me. I
have tried installing matplotlib via pip and via git and I receive the same
error every time I would very much appreciate help.

    
    
    In file included from src/ft2font.cpp:3:
    src/ft2font.h:16:22: error: ft2build.h: No such file or directory
    src/ft2font.h:17:10: error: #include expects "FILENAME" or <FILENAME>
    src/ft2font.h:18:10: error: #include expects "FILENAME" or <FILENAME>
    src/ft2font.h:19:10: error: #include expects "FILENAME" or <FILENAME>
    src/ft2font.h:20:10: error: #include expects "FILENAME" or <FILENAME>
    src/ft2font.h:21:10: error: #include expects "FILENAME" or <FILENAME>
    In file included from src/ft2font.cpp:3:
    src/ft2font.h:34: error: 'FT_Bitmap' has not been declared
    src/ft2font.h:34: error: 'FT_Int' has not been declared
    src/ft2font.h:34: error: 'FT_Int' has not been declared
    src/ft2font.h:86: error: expected ',' or '...' before '&' token
    src/ft2font.h:86: error: ISO C++ forbids declaration of 'FT_Face' with no type
    src/ft2font.h:132: error: 'FT_Face' does not name a type
    src/ft2font.h:133: error: 'FT_Matrix' does not name a type
    src/ft2font.h:134: error: 'FT_Vector' does not name a type
    src/ft2font.h:135: error: 'FT_Error' does not name a type
    src/ft2font.h:136: error: 'FT_Glyph' was not declared in this scope
    src/ft2font.h:136: error: template argument 1 is invalid
    src/ft2font.h:136: error: template argument 2 is invalid
    src/ft2font.h:137: error: 'FT_Vector' was not declared in this scope
    src/ft2font.h:137: error: template argument 1 is invalid
    src/ft2font.h:137: error: template argument 2 is invalid
    src/ft2font.h:143: error: 'FT_BBox' does not name a type
    src/ft2font.cpp:41: error: 'FT_Library' does not name a type
    src/ft2font.cpp:106: error: variable or field 'draw_bitmap' declared void
    src/ft2font.cpp:106: error: 'FT_Bitmap' was not declared in this scope
    src/ft2font.cpp:106: error: 'bitmap' was not declared in this scope
    src/ft2font.cpp:107: error: 'FT_Int' was not declared in this scope
    src/ft2font.cpp:108: error: 'FT_Int' was not declared in this scope
    /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/numpy/core/include/numpy/__multiarray_api.h:1532: warning: 'int _import_array()' defined but not used
    error: command '/usr/bin/gcc-4.2' failed with exit status 1
    


Answer: I had the same problem. I use brew. I fixed this by doing

    
    
    brew install freetype
    brew link freetype
    brew install libpng
    brew link libpng
    brew install matplotlib
    

By default, brew leaves your system versions of freetype and libpng active,
which is why you need to do "brew link" as well. Hope that helps.

Update: I would now recommend using the free version of Anaconda Python. Then
this is trivial.

