# Plots.jl package ceases to work

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Created:** [May 3, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798 "2024-05-03T16:10:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![torein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@torein](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/torein)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798/1 "2024-05-03T16:10:11Z")

</div>

Hi there,

I have been using Julia 1.82 on Windows 10 for nearly two years.  
Up til now, the Plots.jl package has funcioned very well. Suddenly,  
however, the package fails to work. Whenever I run a code that  
includes the plot() command, an error pops up:

[Info: Precompiling Plots [91a5bcdd-55d7-5caf-9e0b-520d859cae80]  
Deps path: C:\Users\torei.julia\packages\FFMPEG\guN1x\src..\deps\deps.jl  
ERROR: LoadError: FFMPEG not installed properly, run `] build FFMPEG`, restart Julia and try again  
Stacktrace:  
[1] error(s::String)  
@ Base .\error.jl:35  
[2] top-level scope  
@ C:\Users\torei.julia\packages\FFMPEG\guN1x\src\FFMPEG.jl:23  
[3] include  
@ .\Base.jl:419 [inlined]  
[4] include\_package\_for\_output(pkg::Base.PkgId, input::String, depot\_path::Vector{String}, dl\_load\_path::Vector{String}, load\_path::Vector{String}, concrete\_deps::Vector{Pair{Base.PkgId, UInt64}}, source::String)  
@ Base .\loading.jl:1554  
[5] top-level scope  
@ stdin:1  
in expression starting at C:\Users\torei.julia\packages\FFMPEG\guN1x\src\FFMPEG.jl:1  
in expression starting at stdin:1  
ERROR: LoadError: Failed to precompile FFMPEG [c87230d0-a227-11e9-1b43-d7ebe4e7570a] to C:\Users\torei.julia\compiled\v1.8\FFMPEG\jl\_7749.tmp.

I have tried the `] build FFMPEG` command, to no avail.

Similar problems related to earlier versions of Julia have been noted, inviting a variety of suggested solutions, many of which didn’t seem to solve the problem.

Tor

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798/2 "2024-05-03T16:25:33Z")

</div>

What is your output of

```julia
using Pkg
Pkg.status()

```

?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mkitti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkitti/32/12459_2.png) [@mkitti](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkitti)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 4:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798/3 "2024-05-03T16:38:06Z")

</div>

We’ve had similar reports in the past. The problem usually involves some complicated enviornment with some out of date packages.

> [@Precompiling error for unknown reason](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/precompiling-error-for-unknown-reason/107073/1):
>
> I tried to precompile CSV into julia v1.84 but failed showing error message about call. I thought maybe the version update is the problem so I downloaded v1.94 and again have the problem. From import Pkg; Pkg.precompile(), I got the following report. Can anyone help me with resolving the problem? Precompiling project… ✗ BinaryProvider ✗ Adapt → AdaptStaticArraysExt ✗ CSV ✗ FFMPEG ✗ Plots ✗ StatsPlots 1 dependency successfully precompiled in 12 seconds. 213 already precompiled. ERROR:…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![torein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@torein](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/torein)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 4:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798/4 "2024-05-03T16:38:17Z")

</div>

These commands yield the following output:

> using Pkg

> Pkg.status()  
> Status `C:\Users\torei\.julia\environments\v1.8\Project.toml`  
> [537997a7] AbstractPlotting v0.18.3  
> ⌃ [336ed68f] CSV v0.10.13  
> ⌃ [3da002f7] ColorTypes v0.11.4  
> ⌅ [d38c429a] Contour v0.5.7  
> [717857b8] DSP v0.7.9  
> ⌃ [a93c6f00] DataFrames v1.3.6  
> ⌃ [31c24e10] Distributions v0.25.107  
> ⌃ [5203de40] Dynare v0.5.8  
> ⌃ [c87230d0] FFMPEG v0.2.4  
> ⌅ [28b8d3ca] GR v0.72.10  
> ⌃ [4b11ee91] Gaston v1.1.0  
> [7073ff75] IJulia v1.24.2  
> [41ab1584] InvertedIndices v1.3.0  
> [b964fa9f] LaTeXStrings v1.3.1  
> [2b0e0bc5] LanguageServer v4.5.1  
> ⌃ [ee78f7c6] Makie v0.15.0  
> [2774e3e8] NLsolve v4.5.1  
> [58dd65bb] Plotly v0.4.1  
> ⌃ [91a5bcdd] Plots v1.39.0  
> [438e738f] PyCall v1.96.4  
> [d330b81b] PyPlot v2.11.2  
> [fcd29c91] QuantEcon v0.16.6  
> ⌅ [2913bbd2] StatsBase v0.33.21  
> [fdbf4ff8] XLSX v0.10.1  
> Info Packages marked with ⌃ and ⌅ have new versions available, but those with ⌅ are restricted by compatibility constraints from upgrading. To see why use `status --outdated`

Best,  
Tor

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mkitti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkitti/32/12459_2.png) [@mkitti](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkitti)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798/5 "2024-05-03T16:40:11Z")

</div>

There are some out of date packages there.

Let’s try a temporary environment first to see if that can successfully generate a plot.

```julia
using Pkg
Pkg.activate(; temp=true)
Pkg.add("Plots")
using Plots
plot(rand(5))

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![torein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@torein](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/torein)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798/6 "2024-05-03T16:57:39Z")

</div>

Hi again,

This works for the example given. I have also successfully run a jl file with the plot() command.

Problem solved, as it seems.

Great thanks!  
Tor

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mkitti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkitti/32/12459_2.png) [@mkitti](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkitti)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 4:59pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798/7 "2024-05-03T16:59:26Z")

</div>

Well you might want to run an update on your main environment since it is not functional.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![torein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@torein](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/torein)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798/8 "2024-05-03T17:11:25Z")

</div>

Do you mean a new version of Julia?

Best,  
Tor

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mkitti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkitti/32/12459_2.png) [@mkitti](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkitti)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798/9 "2024-05-03T17:14:42Z")

</div>

I meant.

```julia
using Pkg
Pkg.update()

```

However, upgrading Julia would be a good idea since you are currently using an unsupported version. The only supported verisons of Julia are Julia 1.6.7 and Julia 1.10.3 at the moment.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![torein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@torein](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/torein)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/plots-jl-package-ceases-to-work/113798/10 "2024-05-03T17:36:56Z")

</div>

Yes, I’ll consider upgrading.

Great thanks again.  
Tor