[IPython-user] 'Segmentation fault' error with -wthread

[Gael Varoquaux]

On Tue, Sep 09, 2008 at 12:43:10PM -0700, Eugene Redekop wrote:
>    My problem is the following: when I call ipython with -wthread option (I
>    need this option to be able to use mayavi correctly) I get 'Segmentation
>    fault' error each time when I call pylab functions. Everything works fine
>    without -wthread but I do need it!

That's because matplotlib (aka pylab) uses a different event loop. If you
use a recent-enough version of ipython, you can call ipython with both
switches:

ipython -pylab -wthread

and it will switch the pylab backend for you.

In very recent versions of matplotlib, pylab is clever-enough to detect
this for you and to switch backends automaticaly, but this is not the
case in your version, aparently.

Finally, if you have a too-old version of matplotlib, you can edit the
.matplotlib/matplotlibrc file and add the following line:

backend      : WxAgg

to force the selection of the appropriate backend.

HTH,

Gaël