GotoBLAS error when installing matplotlib with pip in a virtualenv on debian wheezy

Question

I'm trying to install matplotlib with pip in a virtualenv on debian wheezy. And i get the following message:

Running setup.py egg_info for package matplotlib
    GotoBLAS : Architecture Initialization failed. No initialization function found.
    ============================================================================
    Edit setup.cfg to change the build options

    BUILDING MATPLOTLIB
                matplotlib: yes [1.3.1]
                    python: yes [2.7.3 (default, Jan  2 2013, 13:56:14)  [GCC
                            4.7.2]]
                  platform: yes [linux2]

    REQUIRED DEPENDENCIES AND EXTENSIONS
    Complete output from command python setup.py egg_info:
    GotoBLAS : Architecture Initialization failed. No initialization function found.

============================================================================

Edit setup.cfg to change the build options



BUILDING MATPLOTLIB

            matplotlib: yes [1.3.1]

                python: yes [2.7.3 (default, Jan  2 2013, 13:56:14)  [GCC

                        4.7.2]]

              platform: yes [linux2]



REQUIRED DEPENDENCIES AND EXTENSIONS

----------------------------------------

I previously had libopenblas-dev installed. In fact, I managed to install matplotlib in Ubuntu Gnome 13.10 using the same procedure. Any ideas?

Update 1:

I finally installed matplotlib from the distribution packages. Then based on this question I created an environment using the flag --system-site-packages. To test the installation I tried to import matplotlib in python:

>>> import matplotlib
GotoBLAS : Architecture Initialization failed. No initialization function found.

But I get the same error :( .

Update 2:

I found this post. It is the same error and it was on KVM, just like me. Maybe this error is related with KVM? I just installed matplotlib without problems in debian wheezy running over VirtualBox. But I really need to install it on the KVM machine.

Update 3:

The same error occurs when trying to import numpy in the same system:

>>> import numpy
GotoBLAS : Architecture Initialization failed. No initialization function found.

Answer 1

I finally found a solution! I followed the procedure in Daniel Nouri's Blog.

Here's a summary:

Install libatlas3-base:

sudo apt-get install libatlas3-base

Use liblapack3.so.3 from /usr/lib/atlas-base/atlas/liblapack.so.3 as your default:

sudo update-alternatives --config libblas.so.3

Answer 2

this worked for me:

sudo apt-get purge libopenblas-dev