Summary

When I try use LaTeX with matplotlib (see script below), I get an error containing ! LaTeX Error: File type1cm.sty not found. On the site for type1cm, it says "Note that the LATEX distribution now contains a package fix-cm, which performs the task of type1cm, as well as doing the same job for T1- and TS1-encoded ec fonts". On my system/LaTeX installation, fix-cm is installed by default, whereas type1cm is not, so assuming this is generally true for other users, it would make more sense for matplotlib to use fix-cm instead of type1cm, as this should achieve the same results, and avoid forcing the user to install extra LaTeX packages.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib

matplotlib.rc('font', **{'family': 'serif', 'serif': ['Computer Modern']})
matplotlib.rc('text', usetex=True)

plt.plot([1, 2], c="b")
plt.savefig("output.png")

Python 3.10.12
matplotlib Version: 3.8.2
Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS

Proposed fix

Use fix-cm rather than type1cm for LaTeX