problems with usetex in OSX 10.8

Question

I recently upgraded to OSX 10.8 (Mountain Lion) and my python install is now misbehaving if I try to use latex mark-up in my plot labels.

The following code runs perfectly:

plt.figure()
plt.plot( rand(51), rand(51) )
plt.show()

However, this does not:

plt.rc( 'text', usetex=True )
plt.figure()
plt.plot( rand(51), rand(51) )
plt.show()

The errors I get back are:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/wx/_misc.py", line 1342, in Notify
    self.notify()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/wx/_core.py", line 14716, in Notify
    self.result = self.callable(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_wx.py", line 990, in _onDrawIdle
    self.draw(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_wxagg.py", line 59, in draw
    FigureCanvasAgg.draw(self)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py", line 401, in draw
    self.figure.draw(self.renderer)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/artist.py", line 55, in draw_wrapper
    draw(artist, renderer, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/figure.py", line 884, in draw
    func(*args)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/artist.py", line 55, in draw_wrapper
    draw(artist, renderer, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/axes.py", line 1983, in draw
    a.draw(renderer)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/artist.py", line 55, in draw_wrapper
    draw(artist, renderer, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/axis.py", line 1037, in draw
    ticklabelBoxes, ticklabelBoxes2 = self._get_tick_bboxes(ticks_to_draw, renderer)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/axis.py", line 988, in _get_tick_bboxes
    extent = tick.label1.get_window_extent(renderer)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/text.py", line 747, in get_window_extent
    bbox, info = self._get_layout(self._renderer)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/text.py", line 300, in _get_layout
    ismath=False)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py", line 174, in get_text_width_height_descent
    renderer=self)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/texmanager.py", line 608, in get_text_width_height_descent
    page = iter(dvi).next()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/dviread.py", line 65, in __iter__
    have_page = self._read()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/dviread.py", line 121, in _read
    self._dispatch(byte)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/dviread.py", line 209, in _dispatch
    self._fnt_def(k, c, s, d, a, l, n)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/dviread.py", line 362, in _fnt_def
    tfm = _tfmfile(n[-l:])
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/dviread.py", line 878, in _tfmfile
    return _fontfile(texname, Tfm, '.tfm', _tfmcache)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/dviread.py", line 868, in _fontfile
    filename = find_tex_file(texname + suffix)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/dviread.py", line 838, in find_tex_file
    pipe = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 679, in __init__
    errread, errwrite)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 1228, in _execute_child
    raise child_exception
OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory

Has anyone else encountered this problem? How do I fix this?

Answer 1

Maybe TeX and utilities are not on your $PATH? You should set things up so that if you type "tex" or "kpsewhich" on the command line, you invoke those programs (i.e. get some output instead of "command not found"). If you installed TeX Live previously, make sure that /usr/texbin is in the search path.