support relative paths in examples.directory

svn path=/branches/v1_0_maint/; revision=8899

Author: jdh2358

doc/matplotlibrc

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ docstring.hardcopy : True  # set this when you want to generate hardcopy docstri
 # w/o invoking file downloads for the sampledata (see
 # matplotlib.cbook.get_sample_data.  Unpack
 # mpl_sampledata-VERSION.tar.gz and point examples.directory to it.
+# You can use a relative path for examples.directory and it must be
+# relative to this matplotlibrc file
 
 #examples.download : False  # False to bypass downloading mechanism
-#examples.directory : /home/titan/johnh/python/svn/matplotlib.trunk/sample_data/   # directory to look in if download is false
+#examples.directory : /your/path/to/sample_data/   # directory to look in if download is false

lib/matplotlib/__init__.py

@@ -762,6 +762,21 @@ def rc_params(fail_on_error=False):
 
 # this is the instance used by the matplotlib classes
 rcParams = rc_params()
+
+if rcParams['examples.directory']:
+    # paths that are intended to be relative to matplotlib_fname()
+    # are allowed for the examples.directory parameter.
+    # However, we will need to fully qualify the path because
+    # Sphinx requires absolute paths.
+    if not os.path.isabs(rcParams['examples.directory']):
+        _basedir, _fname = os.path.split(matplotlib_fname())
+        # Sometimes matplotlib_fname() can return relative paths,
+        # Also, using realpath() guarentees that Sphinx will use
+        # the same path that matplotlib sees (in case of weird symlinks).
+        _basedir = os.path.realpath(_basedir)
+        _fullpath = os.path.join(_basedir, rcParams['examples.directory'])
+        rcParams['examples.directory'] = _fullpath
+
 rcParamsOrig = rcParams.copy()
 
 rcParamsDefault = RcParams([ (key, default) for key, (default, converter) in \
@@ -770,6 +785,8 @@ def rc_params(fail_on_error=False):
 rcParams['ps.usedistiller'] = checkdep_ps_distiller(rcParams['ps.usedistiller'])
 rcParams['text.usetex'] = checkdep_usetex(rcParams['text.usetex'])
 
+
+
 def rc(group, **kwargs):
     """
     Set the current rc params.  Group is the grouping for the rc, eg.