Matplotlib: display plot on a remote machine

GTK seems impossible to get working on Ubuntu with Python3. Instead, I used tkagg (from this answer):

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

Test that it's working with this:

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('tkagg')
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.plot([1, 2, 3])
plt.show()

I have used IPython to solve the related problem. The steps are as follows:

Step 1: Install IPython and Jupyter in the remote machine (A) locally (assuming no root privilege) using the following commands:

pip install --user ipython
pip install --user jupyter 

Update matplotlib:

pip install --user -U matplotlib

Step 2:

Run Jupyter with no browser from the code directory in the remote machine (A):

cd PATH/TO/THE/CODE
jupyter notebook --no-browser --port=8080

After this command, a URL will be given something similar to below:

http://localhost:8080/?token=5528ab1eeb3f621b90b63420f8bbfc510edf71f21437c4e2

Step 3:

Now open another terminal in the local machine (B) and connect to the remote machine (A) using ssh:

ssh -N -L 8080:localhost:8080 user_id@remote.host

The port number has to be same in step 2 and step 3. In this example, the port number is 8080.

Step 4:

Copy and paste the URL in the step 3 to a browser in your local machine (B).

Now, the notebook in the remote machine can be used through the browser and plot can be generated using the data in the remote machine.

export MPLBACKEND="agg" this worked for me. obviously you can set it via code as well.

if that doesn't work you could also try:

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

or

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.switch_backend('TkAgg')

this seemed to work for me

Yet, if you are trying to get a GUI working I suggest you look at this link: http://fabiorehm.com/blog/2014/09/11/running-gui-apps-with-docker/

Just wanted to add - if you're on Windows as the local machine, make sure you've set up Xming (an X Windows server) and Putty so you can see the remote Linux graphical applications.

I followed the instructions from here: http://laptops.eng.uci.edu/software-installation/using-linux/how-to-configure-xming-putty to do this. It also sets your display environment and variable so you don't get an error when using tkagg as the backend.

If you're using a mac as a client machine, try this.

You basically need to make sure two things are working properly.

• Using GTK or Cairo as matplotlib's backend.
• Forwarding the display.

Using GTK or Cairo as matplotlib's backend

If you're using python3, you must install cairocffi.

pip install cairocffi

Then use the GTK3Agg as a backend of matplotlib.

import matplotlib 
matplotlib.use('GTK3Agg') 
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

See following description from matplotlib document for more detail.

Both GTK2 and GTK3 have implicit dependencies on PyCairo regardless of the specific Matplotlib backend used. Unfortunatly the latest release of PyCairo for Python3 does not implement the Python wrappers needed for the GTK3Agg backend. Cairocffi can be used as a replacement which implements the correct wrapper.

Forwarding the display

1. Install launch the latest version of XQuartz.
2. Connect to the remote server using ssh -X. ex) ssh username@ipaddress -X

This is what I did with MacOS and a Linux remote machine.

1. In ~/.ssh/config I added the following. I add this since it's possible that your machine might not be taking the xauth location properly.

    XAuthLocation /opt/X11/bin/xauth

2. ssh -Y machine_name
3. Ran the following dummy program:

    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    x = [1,2,3]
    y = [2,4,1]
    plt.plot(x, y)
    plt.show()