"ValueError: bottom cannot be >= top" when attempting to achieve a vertical configuration

[EliteMasterEric]

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/ros/kinetic/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/rqt_plot/data_plot/mat_data_plot.py", line 107, in resizeEvent
    self.figure.tight_layout()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/figure.py", line 1756, in tight_layout
    self.subplots_adjust(**kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/figure.py", line 1612, in subplots_adjust
    self.subplotpars.update(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/figure.py", line 230, in update
    raise ValueError('bottom cannot be >= top')
ValueError: bottom cannot be >= top

This crash can still be reliably reproduced on both kinetic and melodic.

1. Open an RQT window.
2. Create two plots in that window.
3. Attempt to stack one plot vertically below the other, as pictured below.
4. RQT will crash with the above stack trace.

The issue has been posted previously in ros-visualization/rqt#110. This issue appears to be related to font sizes when using tight_layout, as seen in matplotlib/matplotlib#5456, but 5456 has now been closed and the issue is not resolved in rqt_plot.

[dirk-thomas]

I moved the ticket from rqt to this repo: #35.

Since this is a duplicate I will go ahead and close it. Please comment on the existing ticket with any new information.

As far as I can see the upstream ticket hasn't committed / released any fix. The latest comment states that the error message should be different. Please make sure to try it with the latest state of matplotlib and share your result.

[mwwoodm]

As dirk-thomas notes, this was solved for me in #35 by upgrading matplotlib:
sudo pip install --upgrade matplotlib