[FIXED] Generating a PNG with matplotlib when DISPLAY is undefined

Issue

I am trying to use networkx with Python. When I run this program it get this error. Is there anything missing?

#!/usr/bin/env python

import networkx as nx
import matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

G=nx.Graph()
G.add_node(1)
G.add_nodes_from([2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10])
#nx.draw_graphviz(G)
#nx_write_dot(G, 'node.png')
nx.draw(G)
plt.savefig("/var/www/node.png")


Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "graph.py", line 13, in <module>
    nx.draw(G)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/networkx/drawing/nx_pylab.py", line 124, in draw
    cf=pylab.gcf()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 276, in gcf
    return figure()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 254, in figure
    **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.py", line 90, in new_figure_manager
    window = Tk.Tk()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.5/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 1650, in __init__
    self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
_tkinter.TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

---

I get a different error now:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import networkx as nx
import matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

matplotlib.use('Agg')

G=nx.Graph()
G.add_node(1)
G.add_nodes_from([2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10])
#nx.draw_graphviz(G)
#nx_write_dot(G, 'node.png')
nx.draw(G)
plt.savefig("/var/www/node.png")

---

/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/__init__.py:835: UserWarning:  This call to matplotlib.use() has no effect
because the the backend has already been chosen;
matplotlib.use() must be called *before* pylab, matplotlib.pyplot,
or matplotlib.backends is imported for the first time.

  if warn: warnings.warn(_use_error_msg)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "graph.py", line 15, in <module>
    nx.draw(G)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/networkx-1.2.dev-py2.5.egg/networkx/drawing/nx_pylab.py", line 124, in draw
    cf=pylab.gcf()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 276, in gcf
    return figure()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 254, in figure
    **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.py", line 90, in new_figure_manager
    window = Tk.Tk()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.5/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 1650, in __init__
    self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
_tkinter.TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

---

I get a different error now:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import networkx as nx
import matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

matplotlib.use('Agg')

G=nx.Graph()
G.add_node(1)
G.add_nodes_from([2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10])
#nx.draw_graphviz(G)
#nx_write_dot(G, 'node.png')
nx.draw(G)
plt.savefig("/var/www/node.png")

---

/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/__init__.py:835: UserWarning:  This call to matplotlib.use() has no effect
because the the backend has already been chosen;
matplotlib.use() must be called *before* pylab, matplotlib.pyplot,
or matplotlib.backends is imported for the first time.

  if warn: warnings.warn(_use_error_msg)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "graph.py", line 15, in <module>
    nx.draw(G)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/networkx-1.2.dev-py2.5.egg/networkx/drawing/nx_pylab.py", line 124, in draw
    cf=pylab.gcf()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 276, in gcf
    return figure()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 254, in figure
    **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.5/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.py", line 90, in new_figure_manager
    window = Tk.Tk()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.5/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 1650, in __init__
    self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
_tkinter.TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

Solution

The main problem is that (on your system) matplotlib chooses an x-using backend by default. I just had the same problem on one of my servers. The solution for me was to add the following code in a place that gets read before any other pylab/matplotlib/pyplot import:

import matplotlib
# Force matplotlib to not use any Xwindows backend.
matplotlib.use('Agg')

The alternative is to set it in your .matplotlibrc

Answered By - Reinout van Rees