Using PyPlot => ERROR: InitError: PyError (ccall(@pysym(:PyImport_ImportModule), PyPtr, (Cstring,), name)

General Usage
1

Hi,

I have Julia installed on 2 mac (macOS 10.12.6) since last June. All is perfect on both computers with ver 0.6.0 of Julia.

  1. I installed today the ver 0.6.1, and now I have a problem when I invoke “using PyPlot” (see below)
  2. back on my current 0.6.0, no problem when I invoke “using PyPlot”
  3. to check if the problem comes or not from my computer, I created a new user account on my mac, I installed v0.6.0 and now I have also this problem with “using PyPlot” ?!?. I swiched on my second computer, I installed 0.6.0 and 0.6.1 => same problem with Pyplot for both versions of Julia

Apparently the problem is not coming from the config of my computers, nor from 0.6.0/0.6.1 but from PyPlot itself, right?

When I installed last June my two environments, nothing has been customized, I just have invoked Pkg.add(“PyPlot”) and using PyPlot None other package related to plotting needs has been installed.
Is somebody knows this problem and/or has a suggestion to fix it (and why this problem occurs now)?
Thanks in advance.
Xavier

Pkg.add(“PyPlot”) => no problem raised
using PyPlot =>

julia> using PyPlot
INFO: Precompiling module PyPlot.
INFO: Installing matplotlib via the Conda matplotlib package…
Fetching package metadata …
Solving package specifications: .

Package plan for installation in environment /Users/xavierg/.julia/v0.6/Conda/deps/usr:

The following NEW packages will be INSTALLED:

backports:                     1.0-py27hb4f9756_1    
backports.functools_lru_cache: 1.4-py27h2aca819_1    
backports_abc:                 0.5-py27h6972548_0    
cycler:                        0.10.0-py27hfc73c78_0 
freetype:                      2.8-h143eb01_0        
functools32:                   3.2.3.2-py27h8ceab06_1
libpng:                        1.6.32-hce72d48_2     
matplotlib:                    2.1.0-py27h3078195_0  
pyparsing:                     2.2.0-py27h5bb6aaf_0  
python-dateutil:               2.6.1-py27hd56c96b_1  
pytz:                          2017.2-py27hb891d23_1 
singledispatch:                3.4.0.3-py27he22c18d_0
ssl_match_hostname:            3.5.0.1-py27h8780752_2
subprocess32:                  3.2.7-py27h24b2887_0  
tornado:                       4.5.2-py27h29aec9e_0

libpng-1.6.32- 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 1.26 MB/s
freetype-2.8-h 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 1.42 MB/s
backports-1.0- 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 2.67 MB/s
backports_abc- 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 12.96 MB/s
functools32-3. 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 15.96 MB/s
pyparsing-2.2. 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 1.59 MB/s
pytz-2017.2-py 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 1.56 MB/s
subprocess32-3 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 2.62 MB/s
cycler-0.10.0- 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 7.32 MB/s
python-dateuti 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 1.26 MB/s
singledispatch 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 12.84 MB/s
ssl_match_host 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 9.83 MB/s
backports.func 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 6.13 MB/s
tornado-4.5.2- 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:00 1.33 MB/s
matplotlib-2.1 100% |################################| Time: 0:00:04 1.40 MB/s
ERROR: InitError: PyError (ccall(@pysym(:PyImport_ImportModule), PyPtr, (Cstring,), name)

The Python package mpl_toolkits.mplot3d could not be found by pyimport. Usually this means
that you did not install mpl_toolkits.mplot3d in the Python version being used by PyCall.

PyCall is currently configured to use the Julia-specific Python distribution
installed by the Conda.jl package. To install the mpl_toolkits.mplot3d module, you can
use pyimport_conda("mpl_toolkits.mplot3d", PKG), where PKG is the Anaconda
package the contains the module mpl_toolkits.mplot3d, or alternatively you can use the
Conda package directly (via using Conda followed by Conda.add etcetera).

Alternatively, if you want to use a different Python distribution on your
system, such as a system-wide Python (as opposed to the Julia-specific Python),
you can re-configure PyCall with that Python. As explained in the PyCall
documentation, set ENV[“PYTHON”] to the path/name of the python executable
you want to use, run Pkg.build(“PyCall”), and re-launch Julia.

) <type ‘exceptions.ImportError’>
ImportError(‘No module named mpl_toolkits.mplot3d’,)

Stacktrace:
[1] pyerr_check at /Users/xavierg/.julia/v0.6/PyCall/src/exception.jl:56 [inlined]
[2] pyerr_check at /Users/xavierg/.julia/v0.6/PyCall/src/exception.jl:61 [inlined]
[3] macro expansion at /Users/xavierg/.julia/v0.6/PyCall/src/exception.jl:81 [inlined]
[4] pyimport(::String) at /Users/xavierg/.julia/v0.6/PyCall/src/PyCall.jl:374
[5] init() at /Users/xavierg/.julia/v0.6/PyPlot/src/init.jl:205
[6] _include_from_serialized(::String) at ./loading.jl:157
[7] _require_from_serialized(::Int64, ::Symbol, ::String, ::Bool) at ./loading.jl:200
[8] _require(::Symbol) at ./loading.jl:498
[9] require(::Symbol) at ./loading.jl:405
during initialization of module PyPlot

julia>

2

In waiting, I have found the following solution in 3 steps:

run(`install_name_tool -change @rpath/libiomp5.dylib @loader_path/libiomp5.dylib $(Pkg.dir("Conda", "deps/usr/lib/libmkl_intel_thread.dylib"))`)

Conda.update()

Pkg.build("PyCall")

It is suggested by ‘slowbrain’ here:

Thanks a lot!