How to get matplotlib and latex work together?

Question

I have the following problem and I am totally new to matplotlib and python: To produce high qualitiy plots for my thesis I want to use matplotlib and I want to use the latex

Answer 1

Your problem has been seen before as reported here on the matplotlib-user mailing list. The resolution is here and the confirmation that it works is here.

In summary, you need to clear the tex.cache directory.

To find where that directory is - go into python and execute matplotlib.get_cachedir()

For a standard Ubuntu 14.04 install - you should get something like the following:

~$ python3
Python 3.4.0 (default, Apr 11 2014, 13:05:11) 
[GCC 4.8.2] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import matplotlib as mpl
>>> mpl.get_cachedir()
'/home//.cache/matplotlib'

Then do rm /tex.cache/* and then re-run and it should all work.

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Docs issue

Some tips like this are available in the usetex troubleshooting docs section, which lead to here to locate the directory, but they unfortunately don't mention get_cachedir()

Edit Pull Request generated based on this question and merged into the matplotlib docs.