ImportError: No module named _backend_gdk

Question

I am starting to get some insight into interactive plotting with python and matplotlib using pyGTK+. Therefore I took a look at the example given at the matplotlib website.

This is a short exerpt of the Code:

#!/usr/bin/env python
"""
Example of embedding matplotlib in an application and interacting with
a treeview to store data.  Double click on an entry to update plot
data

"""
import pygtk
pygtk.require('2.0')
import gtk
from gtk import gdk

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('GTKAgg')  # or 'GTK'
from matplotlib.backends.backend_gtk import FigureCanvasGTK as FigureCanvas

from numpy.random import random
from matplotlib.figure import Figure

Ones I try to run this Script in the Terminal I get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "gtk_spreadsheet.py", line 15, in <module>
    from matplotlib.backends.backend_gtk import FigureCanvasGTK as FigureCanvas
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_gtk.py", line 33, in <module>
    from matplotlib.backends.backend_gdk import RendererGDK, FigureCanvasGDK
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_gdk.py", line 29, in <module>
    from matplotlib.backends._backend_gdk import pixbuf_get_pixels_array
ImportError: No module named _backend_gdk

I have python 2.7 and pygtk 2.24 installed.

Can anyone figure out where the error is located? I think it might be connected to some linking issues?

Answer 1

Note that the Debian/Ubuntu package you need is not 'pygtk2-devel' but 'python-gtk2-dev':

sudo apt-get install python-gtk2-dev

should fix this error on these platforms.