Unable to import pylab?
Question: I've installed numpy/scipy/matplotlib on Snow Leopard with python 2.6.
Importing pylab does not seem to be working.. Upon calling 'import pylab', I
get the following:

    
    
    File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
      File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/pylab.py", line 1, in <module>
        from matplotlib.pylab import *
      File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/pylab.py", line 216, in <module>
        from matplotlib import mpl  # pulls in most modules
      File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/mpl.py", line 2, in <module>
        from matplotlib import axis
      File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/axis.py", line 10, in <module>
        import matplotlib.font_manager as font_manager
      File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/font_manager.py", line 1339, in <module>
        _rebuild()
      File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/font_manager.py", line 1326, in _rebuild
        fontManager = FontManager()
      File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/font_manager.py", line 1004, in __init__
        self.ttffiles = findSystemFonts(paths) + findSystemFonts()
      File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/font_manager.py", line 343, in findSystemFonts
        for f in get_fontconfig_fonts(fontext):
      File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/font_manager.py", line 301, in get_fontconfig_fonts
        output = pipe.communicate()[0]
      File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/subprocess.py", line 683, in communicate
        stdout = self.stdout.read()
    

What gives? Is pylab expecting something I don't have? It seems to be unable
to read something, but I don't really understand what that is..


Answer: Just wait. The problem is that fc-list takes a long time to run the first time
through, and so it looks like it's hung; but if you wait 2-3 minutes it will
finish and then run more quickly thereafter.

I ran fc-list at the command line as root, which presumably initialized a
cache of some sort; not sure that's necessary, but it worked!

