Win7. Why Don't Matplotlib, ... Show up in Control Panel Add-Remove?

[W. eWatson]

See Subject. I use matplotlib, scipy, numpy and possibly one other
module. If I go to the control panel, I only see numpy listed. Why? I
use a search and find only numpy and Python itself. How can matplotlib
and scipy be uninstalled?

 

[Mark Lawrence]

See Subject. I use matplotlib, scipy, numpy and possibly one other
module. If I go to the control panel, I only see numpy listed. Why? I
use a search and find only numpy and Python itself. How can matplotlib
and scipy be uninstalled?

Have you heard of google?

Mark Lawrence.

 

[Michael Torrie]

See Subject. I use matplotlib, scipy, numpy and possibly one other
module. If I go to the control panel, I only see numpy listed. Why? I
use a search and find only numpy and Python itself. How can matplotlib
and scipy be uninstalled?

The best way is probably to find the folders in site-packages that
contain these modules and simply delete them. They will be
self-contained in folders, so it should be a pretty clean delete.

Or you could try just installing the versions you want on top of the
existing versions. This should work, even for a downgrade.

 

[David Robinow]

Have you heard of google?

google is not relevant to this issue. This group is the correct forum.
I'm not sure what the answer to the OP's problem is. If you no longer
wish to use these modules I suggest doing nothing. No harm will
result.
If you want to upgrade just install the new version. If that doesn't
work, file a bug report.

 

[Benjamin Kaplan]

google is not relevant to this issue. This group is the correct forum.
I'm not sure what the answer to the OP's problem is. If you no longer
wish to use these modules I suggest doing nothing. No harm will
result.

Since this is specifically a matplotlib and scipy question, the most
relevant forums would be the matplotlib and scipy mailing lists. The
maintainers of those projects are probably on those lists, and they'll
be able to answer this question better than we can since they know
what the installers do in the first place.

https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/scipy-user

 

[W. eWatson]

Since this is specifically a matplotlib and scipy question, the most
relevant forums would be the matplotlib and scipy mailing lists. The
maintainers of those projects are probably on those lists, and they'll
be able to answer this question better than we can since they know
what the installers do in the first place.

https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/scipy-user

Well, you have a good point, and I will do that. However, I'm surprised
there doesn't seem to be some uniformity on this subject.

Yes, removing them directly is an option, but I prefer to find out why
the discrepancy? BTW, I really do not plan to remove them now. The
anomaly does deserve an answer.

To suggest Google as above, makes no sense to me. This is the place to
ask, as another poster stated.

 

[Benjamin Kaplan]

Well, you have a good point, and I will do that. However, I'm surprised
there doesn't seem to be some uniformity on this subject.

Yes, removing them directly is an option, but I prefer to find out why the
discrepancy? BTW, I really do not plan to remove them now. The anomaly does
deserve an answer.

There's a discrepancy because package management on Python is
completely broken. Distutils and Setuptools (and it's new fork,
Distribute) are inadequate- they act as installers, but don't provide
a way to uninstall the program. There are attempts to fix this, such
as pip and Activestate's PyPM, but they aren't used as widely as the
older methods.

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

google is not relevant to this issue. This group is the correct forum.

I would have thought that people who hang around dedicated forums for
matplotlib and scipy would probably have more knowledge about the
workings of the matplotlib and scipy installers than generic Python
programmers, most of whom have never touched or used matplotlib or scipy.

I'm not sure what the answer to the OP's problem is.

Oh the irony.

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

To suggest Google as above, makes no sense to me. This is the place to
ask, as another poster stated.

He may have stated it, but the evidence suggests he's wrong. You're
asking a question about the details of the installers used specifically
by scipy and matplotlib. Most people here have no idea about that, hence
the lack of useful answers. The best likelihood of finding a solution is
to go to a specialist forum, not a generic one.

In any case, suggesting Google is *always* relevant. You gave us no
reason at all to think that you had made any effort to solve the problem
yourself before asking for us to volunteer our time. That's rude. Did you
google for "uninstall scipy" before asking for help? Did you make any
effort to read the Scipy manual first? Did you make any effort *at all*?
If you had -- and for all we know, you might have spent days trying to
solve this, or 3 seconds, or anything in between -- you didn't say so.

Suggesting that you do some googling is absolutely relevant.

Perhaps it's about time that we point you at this:

http://catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

I don't agree with everything the author says, but the basic position is
about right.

 

[W. eWatson]

He may have stated it, but the evidence suggests he's wrong. You're
asking a question about the details of the installers used specifically
by scipy and matplotlib. Most people here have no idea about that, hence
the lack of useful answers. The best likelihood of finding a solution is
to go to a specialist forum, not a generic one.

In any case, suggesting Google is *always* relevant. You gave us no
reason at all to think that you had made any effort to solve the problem
yourself before asking for us to volunteer our time. That's rude. Did you
google for "uninstall scipy" before asking for help? Did you make any
effort to read the Scipy manual first? Did you make any effort *at all*?
If you had -- and for all we know, you might have spent days trying to
solve this, or 3 seconds, or anything in between -- you didn't say so.

Suggesting that you do some googling is absolutely relevant.

Perhaps it's about time that we point you at this:

http://catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

I don't agree with everything the author says, but the basic position is
about right.

For the last few hours, I've been on the scipy and numpy mail list, per
a suggestion. No one seems to really understand uninstall there. I think
Ben Caplan may have it right. You and I need go no further with this. We
disagree--again.

 

[John Nagle]

Have you heard of google?

Mark Lawrence.

It's a legitimate question. It might be framed as "why does Python
package management not play well with the platform's package management
system?" Which is a reasonable enough question. On Windows, some
packages play well with Add/Remove programs, and some don't. On
Linux, some packages play well with Yum, and some don't.

The basic answer is that nobody is in charge. There's nobody
even trying to herd the third-party modules. Unlike CPAN, which
has standards for Perl packages and some level of quality
control, PyPi is just a link farm.

John Nagle

 

[Martin v. Loewis]

There's a discrepancy because package management on Python is

completely broken. Distutils and Setuptools (and it's new fork,
Distribute) are inadequate- they act as installers, but don't provide
a way to uninstall the program.

That's not true. If you use the bdist_wininst, bdist_msi, or bdist_rpm
distutils commands, you get packages which support uninstallations
very well.

Regards,
Martin

 

[Martin v. Loewis]

The basic answer is that nobody is in charge. There's nobody

even trying to herd the third-party modules. Unlike CPAN, which
has standards for Perl packages and some level of quality
control, PyPi is just a link farm.

Do the standards of CPAN also include uninstallation?

To my knowledge, they don't: so how does it help to have standards,
wrt. to the OP's question?

Regards,
Martin

 

[Christoph Gohlke]

For the last few hours, I've been on the scipy and numpy mail list, per
a suggestion. No one seems to really understand uninstall there.

Well. Your question has been answered on Numpy-discussion in February
and again today on SciPy-users.

 

[Giacomo Boffi]

If you use the bdist_wininst, bdist_msi, or bdist_rpm distutils
commands, you get packages which support uninstallations very well.

bdist_deb?