Issue when importing articdb and matplotlib on Linux

[StageTired]

Describe the bug

When I import arcticdb and matplotlib together in my script, some internal exception gets raised. The exception pops up on matplotlib import but it points to arcticdb. If I import matplotlib first, artic second, it works fine.

I am not sure whether it should go here or to matplotlib.

Steps/Code to Reproduce

1. python3.11 -m venv .venv
2. source .venv/bin/activate
3. pip install -U arcticdb matplotlib

Script / commands to run:

import arcticdb
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

Exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/home/masloa-ext/repos/sandbox/.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/matplotlib/__init__.py", line 264, in <module>
    _check_versions()
  File "/home/masloa-ext/repos/sandbox/.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/matplotlib/__init__.py", line 249, in _check_versions
    from . import ft2font  # noqa: F401
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1176, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1147, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 676, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 579, in module_from_spec
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 542, in _init_module_attrs
arcticdb_ext.exceptions.InternalException: pybind11::attribute_error(module 'matplotlib.ft2font' has no attribute '__path__')

Expected Results

No error is shown.

OS, Python Version and ArcticDB Version

Python: 3.11.11 (main, Dec 4 2024, 08:55:08) [GCC 13.2.0]
OS: Linux-6.8.0-1020-azure-x86_64-with-glibc2.39
ArcticDB: 5.2.3

Backend storage used

No response

Additional Context

Same thing happens when I try it on Azure DevOps hosted agent, if it's useful:

stages:
  - stage: testmatplotlib
    dependsOn: []
    pool:
      vmImage: ubuntu-latest
    jobs:
      - job: build
        steps:
          - task: UsePythonVersion@0
            inputs:
              versionSpec: "3.11"
            displayName: "Use Python 3.11"

          - script: python -m pip install -U "arcticdb==5.2.3" "matplotlib==3.10.0"
            displayName: "Install dependencies"

          - script: python ci/test_arctic.py
            displayName: "The error"

test_arctic.py:

import arcticdb
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

print("hello world")

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/vsts/work/1/s/ci/test_arctic.py", line 2, in <module>
    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.11/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/matplotlib/__init__.py", line 264, in <module>
    _check_versions()
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.11/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/matplotlib/__init__.py", line 249, in _check_versions
    from . import ft2font  # noqa: F401
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1176, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1147, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 676, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 579, in module_from_spec
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 542, in _init_module_attrs
arcticdb_ext.exceptions.InternalException: pybind11::attribute_error(module 'matplotlib.ft2font' has no attribute '__path__')