[Bug]: libc++abi: terminating due to uncaught exception of type NSException crash when combining tkinter and matplotlib with the macosx backend #30388
Description
Bug summary
If I create a matplotlib figure using pyplot (e.g. plt.subplots), then create a tkinter window, my code crashes with the libc++abi: terminating due to uncaught exception of type NSException error. This happens with the macosx backand, while the tkagg does not have any errors.
Code for reproduction
#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import tkinter as tk
import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('macosx') # no error if the tkagg backend is used
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
print(matplotlib.get_backend())
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 10))
root = tk.Tk()Actual outcome
macosx
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[NSApplication macOSVersion]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1397a7060'
*** First throw call stack:
(
0 CoreFoundation 0x000000019e02eca0 __exceptionPreprocess + 176
1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x000000019daf2b90 objc_exception_throw + 88
2 CoreFoundation 0x000000019e0ebb90 -[NSObject(NSObject) __retain_OA] + 0
3 CoreFoundation 0x000000019df9cddc ___forwarding___ + 1500
4 CoreFoundation 0x000000019df9c740 _CF_forwarding_prep_0 + 96
5 libtk8.6.dylib 0x0000000101159918 GetRGBA + 64
6 libtk8.6.dylib 0x0000000101159714 TkpGetColor + 428
7 libtk8.6.dylib 0x00000001010a37bc Tk_GetColor + 168
8 libtk8.6.dylib 0x0000000101094b7c Tk_Get3DBorder + 152
9 libtk8.6.dylib 0x00000001010949bc Tk_Alloc3DBorderFromObj + 144
10 libtk8.6.dylib 0x00000001010a4e08 DoObjConfig + 1008
11 libtk8.6.dylib 0x00000001010a4918 Tk_InitOptions + 372
12 libtk8.6.dylib 0x00000001010a47fc Tk_InitOptions + 88
13 libtk8.6.dylib 0x00000001010d20f8 CreateFrame + 1472
14 libtk8.6.dylib 0x00000001010d2424 TkListCreateFrame + 172
15 libtk8.6.dylib 0x00000001010cacbc Initialize + 1888
16 _tkinter.cpython-313-darwin.so 0x0000000100d661d0 Tcl_AppInit + 92
17 _tkinter.cpython-313-darwin.so 0x0000000100d65e20 Tkapp_New + 652
18 _tkinter.cpython-313-darwin.so 0x0000000100d65b90 _tkinter_create_impl + 268
19 _tkinter.cpython-313-darwin.so 0x0000000100d657f8 _tkinter_create + 276
20 python3.13 0x00000001005955d0 cfunction_vectorcall_FASTCALL + 96
21 python3.13 0x00000001006b4380 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 45724
22 python3.13 0x00000001005d95e8 slot_tp_init + 336
23 python3.13 0x00000001005cc14c type_call + 148
24 python3.13 0x00000001006b482c _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 46920
25 python3.13 0x00000001006a6a98 PyEval_EvalCode + 148
26 python3.13 0x000000010076ff70 run_eval_code_obj + 144
27 python3.13 0x000000010076f92c run_mod + 168
28 python3.13 0x000000010076f754 pyrun_file + 144
29 python3.13 0x000000010076f014 _PyRun_SimpleFileObject + 256
30 python3.13 0x000000010076e8d8 _PyRun_AnyFileObject + 80
31 python3.13 0x000000010079bd18 pymain_run_file_obj + 180
32 python3.13 0x000000010079b364 pymain_run_file + 72
33 python3.13 0x000000010079a654 Py_RunMain + 1036
34 python3.13 0x000000010079c08c pymain_main + 560
35 python3.13 0x00000001004a5b30 main + 56
36 dyld 0x000000019db32b98 start + 6076
)
libc++abi: terminating due to uncaught exception of type NSException
Abort trap: 6
Expected outcome
Code should exit cleanly with no error
Additional information
The tkagg backend does not cause a crash:
import tkinter as tk
import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('tkagg')
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
print(matplotlib.get_backend())
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 10))
root = tk.Tk()Manually creating a figure with Figure does not cause a crash either:
import tkinter as tk
import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('macosx')
import matplotlib.figure
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
print(matplotlib.get_backend())
fig = matplotlib.figure.Figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot()
root = tk.Tk()Operating system
OS/X
Matplotlib Version
3.10.0
Matplotlib Backend
macosx
Python version
Python 3.13.2
Jupyter version
No response
Installation
pip