python + igraph "plotting not available"

Question

I installed python-igraph 0.5.4 and igraph 0.5.4 (also tested 0.6) from source on a RHEL machine. All is fine except when I try to plot I get.

"TypeError: plotting not available"

There were no errors or warnings in the configure or install stages.

What do I need to install on linux to get plotting to work? I don't have root so will need to install it from source.

Answer 1

I had the same problem on my MacBook so I wanted to share my solution.

I tried to install pycairo, py2cairo. The installation seemed to be okay but then:

1. I could not import pycairo
2. igraph's plot would not work.

The following solved the igraph plotting issue:

sudo pip install cairocffi

or just

pip install cairocffi

So instead of pycairo I used cairocffi and this did the trick.