Managing fonts

[cmundi]

Example: When I create an xkcd-style plot using PyPlot.jl (see https://gist.github.com/cmundi/9041366) in a fresh session of IJulia, I get this error:

/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib-1.3.1-py2.7-linux-x86_64.egg/matplotlib/font_manager.py:1236: UserWarning: findfont: Font family ['Humor Sans', 'Comic Sans MS'] not found. Falling back to Bitstream Vera Sans
(prop.get_family(), self.defaultFamily[fontext]))

Ok, so matplotlib apparently cannot find the Comic Sans font. That makes sense, because I don't see that font in /usr/share/fonts/truetype. But hold on a second! If I run the usual examples of xkcd in IPython (not IJulia) the comic sans fonts render in the plots -- no problem! Just for fun I installed the MS fonts which include Comic_Sans_MS.ttf and rebuilt the cache with

fc-cache -rv

which picked up the new fonts. Started a new session of IJulia and... no comic sans for xkcd... still gives me the fallback sans serif fonts.

I would say this is a font config problem (with IPython finding Comic Sans and IJulia not finding it) but that seems strange since PyPlot.jl is a wrapper around matplotlib. Any ideas?

Yes, I know, I should be making a useful contribution to society instead of worrying about xkcd. :)

Thanks.

[stevengj]

Hmm, I have no idea how matplotlib finds fonts. Maybe there is some path that gets set when you run python which is not getting set by linking to libpython?

[stevengj]

Does it work if you run pygui(true) so that plots pop up in a separate window? (I'm wondering if this is specific to the Agg backend.)

[cmundi]

Good suggestions. I am traveling and not ignoring. :)