How to install matplotlib in Debian 9

[Tomasz Rola]

On Mon, Jun 11, 2018 at 03:43:43PM -0300, Markos wrote:
> 
[...]
> As I prefer more stability than "updability" I will install the package:
> 
> apt-get install python3-matplotlib
> 
> Best Regards,
> Markos

Good choice IMHO. The "stable" in Debian is simply "supposed to work
without problem". Packages in stable are "old" but in fact they are
maintained and updated in case there is a security related bug - so
"old" but someone is taking care. For one who is fresh to Python and
Debian (as it seems is your case) this means you get a working
environment while folks from Debian do their job behind the
curtain. I think this is ideal for learning. You do not get the latest
software from stable, but you will not need the latest while you
learn.

Just remember to do this from time to time:

  aptitude update && aptitude safe-upgrade && aptitude clean

or (roughly) equivalent apt-get commands:

  apt-get update && apt-get -u upgrade && apt-get clean

And you should be good.

Caveat: Debian (in its stable branch) served me well for many many
years until very recently, so my opinion might be a bit biased
:-). Stable is very nice for base system, and I always could manually
install (i.e. compile from sources) newer version of something on top
of this - usually in /opt or /usr/local, so as to keep stable part
isolated from my possible errors. I have never used pip, so if you
decide so, you may want to make sure it does not mess with the stable
part before you run it.

The stable part - i.e. the part of the Debian that is maintained with
aptitude/apt* commands. Like /usr, /bin, good part of /var etc.

HTH

-- 
Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...      **
**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:tomasz_rola at bigfoot.com             **