[IPython-user] matplotlibrc and ipython -pylab

[Johann Cohen-Tanugi]

thanks John, I will use the env variable, as the users are not ready to 
jump ahead with more recent releases, I am afraid. I will play with 
Gael's feature on my own box.
thanks!
Johann

John Hunter wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 27, 2008 at 6:59 PM, Johann Cohen-Tanugi
> <cohen@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
>   
>> Hi,
>> I have a .matplotlib directory where matplotlibrc has GTKAgg as a
>> default backend, for my everyday use. But I am also developing an
>> ipython-base framework for other users in my collaboration, with a
>> custom python/ipython install which does not include pygtk. So I would
>> like to be be able to tell ipython/pylab to look somewhere else for the
>> correct matplotlibrc, or to not read it at all....
>> How can I do that?
>> ipython -pylab does a  lot before I can call rc in my modules, so I need
>> something upstream from my code.
>>     
>
> You can place your rc file in an arbitrary location and point to it by
> setting your MATPLOTLIBRC environment variable.  You may be interested
> to know that Gael recently patched matplotlib to support a
> 'backend_fallback' rc param.  This new rc param was motivated in large
> part to support ipython frontend developers (and users) as well as
> others who want to use mpl in embedded apps.
>
> The way it works is, if you set this variable to True, the matplotlib
> will use your backend setting *unless* pyplot/pylab finds itself in an
> already running gui mainloop, in which case it will set the backend to
> something sensible depending on which mainloop is running.  Suppose
> you love GTKAgg on a daily basis, but are developing or using a qt
> frontend for ipython in some special purpose app.  Set your backend to
> 'GTKAgg' and set backend_fallback to True.  When you import
> pylab/pyplot from your qt app, matplotlib will detect that qt is
> imported and the mainloop is running, and will fallback on qtagg.
>
> This exists currently only in mpl svn, but will be out in the next release soon.
>
> JDH
>