Invalid DISPLAY variable · Issue #3466 · matplotlib/matplotlib · GitHub

In my AWS Ubuntu 14.02 instance I installed the matplotlib dependencies and then via pip I installed matplotlib:

sudo apt-get build-dep python-matplotlib

sudo pip install matplotlib

sudo pip freeze:
matplotlib==1.4.0

in a brand new file plotting1.py I wrote:

!/usr/bin/python

from pylab import *
plot([1,2,3])
show()

after typying chmod +x plotting1.py, I executed the little script:

time python plotting1.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "plotting1.py", line 4, in
plot([1,2,3])
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 3086, in plot
ax = gca()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 827, in gca
ax = gcf().gca(*_kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 461, in gcf
return figure()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 434, in figure
*_kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4ag g.py", line 47, in new_figure_manager
return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, thisFig)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4ag g.py", line 54, in new_figure_manager_given_figure
canvas = FigureCanvasQTAgg(figure)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4ag g.py", line 72, in init
FigureCanvasQT.init(self, figure)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4.p y", line 68, in init
_create_qApp()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5.p y", line 139, in _create_qApp
raise RuntimeError('Invalid DISPLAY variable')
RuntimeError: Invalid DISPLAY variable

real 0m0.404s
user 0m0.284s

What do I have to do now?

Looking forward to your kind help.
Kind regards.
Marco

Do you have the X server running? What is your DISPLAY environment variable set to (echo $DISPLAY)?

Hi,
thanks for helping!!!!

echo $DISPLAY

so it say nothing

What do I have to do to make X server running in my AWS Ubuntu 12.04 instance?
I rebooted but still nothing:
echo $DISPLAY

Do you know how to set the DISPLAY environment variable to disp?

Solved. I cannot visualize graphs on AWS server.
so I have to save them in files and download them locally.

Thanks for your kind help.
Kind regards.
Marco

I had the same problem and I solved it by adding plt.switch_backend('agg') after import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

@LinZichuan I encoutered this problem too and your solution works. Thanks for your sharing!

For the record it's better to chose a backend before importing pyplot i.e.

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('agg')
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

@LinZichuan Great! It works

For me on AWS ec2 instance

import matplotlib matplotlib.use('agg')
Does not work. But
plt.switch_backend('agg')
does the trick.

@jenshnielsen
I have this error, although I add

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('agg')
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

Demo for data/demo/000456.jpg
Detection took 0.233s for 300 object proposals
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./tools/demo.py", line 153, in
demo(net, im_name)
File "./tools/demo.py", line 102, in demo
vis_detections(im, cls, dets, thresh=CONF_THRESH)
File "./tools/demo.py", line 51, in vis_detections
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(12, 12))
File "/home/usr/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 1177, in subplots
fig = figure(**fig_kw)
File "/home/usr/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 527, in figure
**kwargs)
File "/home/usr/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4agg.py", line 46, in new_figure_manager
return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, thisFig)
File "/home/usr/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4agg.py", line 53, in new_figure_manager_given_figure
canvas = FigureCanvasQTAgg(figure)
File "/home/usr/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4agg.py", line 76, in init
FigureCanvasQT.init(self, figure)
File "/home/usr/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4.py", line 68, in init
_create_qApp()
File "/home/usr/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5.py", line 138, in _create_qApp
raise RuntimeError('Invalid DISPLAY variable')
RuntimeError: Invalid DISPLAY variable

@bzhr

I have modified as you suggested, by replacing plt with plt.switch_backend('agg')
I have the following error:

Demo for data/demo/000456.jpg
Detection took 0.268s for 300 object proposals
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./tools/demo2.py", line 153, in
demo(net, im_name)
File "./tools/demo2.py", line 102, in demo
vis_detections(im, cls, dets, thresh=CONF_THRESH)
File "./tools/demo2.py", line 51, in vis_detections
fig, ax = plt.switch_backend('agg').subplots(figsize=(12, 12))
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'subplots'

@hana9090 That is not how the library works. plt.switch_backend() changes some global state which affects how future calls to plt.subplots() works.

For others having this issue: for me it was solved by putting the

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('agg')

all the way at the top of the file it was used in. Initially I though "hmm, it should be fine as long as I put it above all other matplotlib stuff", but nope! It had to be all the way on the top for it to work.

@teuneboon It must be above anything that imports pyplot.

Use switch_backend instead, see matplotlib/matplotlib#3466

switch_backend() probably won't work (although we are working on improvements to make it possible under certain situations). It would be hard to figure out your problem without more information. What OS? Which version of matplotlib? And how did you install matplotlib?

…

On Fri, Nov 17, 2017 at 1:03 AM, sulth ***@***.***> wrote: @tacaswell <https://github.com/tacaswell> Iam also having the same problem of visualizing the output using plt.show() ,when used plt.switch_backend().How to solve this issue. — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3466 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AARy-JXhKsPiygGvkoT87tF5oL3e5X98ks5s3SG4gaJpZM4CeU7q> .

Hi Thanks !i got it.it was due to agg (non interactive visualisation env).replaced it with qt4agg (interactive)and it worked

Use plt.switch_backend

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.switch_backend('agg') # Very Important in R Markdown

That works for me in R Markdown

Is there any other method where matplotlib plots and shows over ssh or manually saving is the only option??

If the server you are logging into does not have xserver running in some form or another, then, no you can't get a GUI window since the GUI window would have to come from the server you are logging into. But, usually, xserver is available on most systems, and usually, doing `ssh -X ...` (or sometimes, ssh -Y ...` is sufficient to make this work when logging into a remote server. I should note that I have experienced issues with my CentOS7 machine, and I suspect it has to do with some weird interaction with SELinux and plymouth. But in general, it should work if you include "-X" option for your ssh calls. Note, if you are making multiple ssh hops, each one of those hops will need the -X option invoked.

…

On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 12:05 AM, Naman Jain ***@***.***> wrote: Is there any other method where matplotlib plots and shows over ssh or manually saving is the only option?? — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3466 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AARy-MPLDuO4AH3Y4IBudfnGR22ZqXsAks5t046MgaJpZM4CeU7q> .

Declare a backend for matplotlib

Declare a backend for matplotlib (#171)

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('agg')
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

^ Solved the problem for me. Thanks @jenshnielsen .

Use plt.switch_backend

Switching to 'agg' does solve the issue. Although I am back stuck at this issue: #12074

Working on sumsims, incrementing version.

Use plt.switch_backend

Invalid DISPLAY variable · Issue #3466 · matplotlib/matplotlib · GitHub

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Invalid DISPLAY variable · Issue #3466 · matplotlib/matplotlib · GitHub

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Invalid DISPLAY variable #3466

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!/usr/bin/python

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cimarronm commented on Sep 4, 2014

marcoippolito commented on Sep 4, 2014

marcoippolito commented on Sep 4, 2014

LinZichuan commented on Mar 13, 2016

amberkaka commented on Apr 22, 2016

jenshnielsen commented on Apr 23, 2016

aluenkinglee commented on Jan 3, 2017

bzhr commented on Jan 5, 2017

hana9090 commented on Apr 1, 2017

hana9090 commented on Apr 1, 2017

tacaswell commented on Apr 2, 2017

teuneboon commented on Jul 24, 2017

tacaswell commented on Jul 24, 2017

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WeatherGod commented on Nov 17, 2017

sulth commented on Nov 18, 2017

XiangyunHuang commented on Apr 16, 2018

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WeatherGod commented on May 22, 2018

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debovis commented on May 13, 2019

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