data visualisation: Getting matplotlib on MacOS X

Decided I should probably play around with matplotlib finally since I found a manhattan plot python script that required it.

But omg I thought that installing stuff on Ubuntu was troublesome, Macs actually ups the level of troublesome one notch up

Gonna leave it undone .. but in chronological order of discovery

python eggs = FAILED (not sure why the script insists that it doesn't have write permissions to create files


next up was trying this helpful post
Installing matplotlib in Lion
http://the.taoofmac.com/space/blog/2011/07/24/2222

oh okay I need homebrew
http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/
https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/wiki/installation

(oh wow I didn't know ruby is installed by default)
but hit another snag as per below ..
continue another day ..



Press enter to continue
==> /usr/bin/sudo /bin/chmod g+rwx /usr/local/. /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib
==> /usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/chgrp admin /usr/local/. /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib
==> Downloading and Installing Homebrew...
==> Installation successful!
You should run `brew doctor' *before* you install anything.
Now type: brew help
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 03:07:56
k@k:~$ brew doctor

Error: You have no /usr/bin/cc.
This means you probably can't build *anything*. You need to install the Command
Line Tools for Xcode. You can either download this from http://connect.apple.com
or install them from inside Xcode's Download preferences. Homebrew does not
require all of Xcode! You only need the Command Line Tools package!
Error: Git could not be found in your PATH.
Homebrew uses Git for several internal functions, and some formulae use Git
checkouts instead of stable tarballs. You may want to install Git:
  brew install git
Error: Your compilers are different from the standard versions for your Xcode.
If you have Xcode 4.3 or newer, you should install the Command Line Tools for
Xcode from within Xcode's Download preferences.
Otherwise, you should reinstall Xcode.
Error: Your Xcode is configured with an invalid path.
You should change it to the correct path. Please note that there is no correct
path at this time if you have *only* installed the Command Line Tools for Xcode.
If your Xcode is pre-4.3 or you installed the whole of Xcode 4.3 then one of
these is (probably) what you want:

    sudo xcode-select -switch /Developer
    sudo xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

DO NOT SET / OR EVERYTHING BREAKS!