ENH: Warn if using OverlayPlugin w/ matplotlib < 1.2

skimage/viewer/plugins/overlayplugin.py

@@ -1,8 +1,19 @@
+from warnings import warn
+
 from skimage.util.dtype import dtype_range
 from .base import Plugin
 from ..utils import ClearColormap
 
 
+__all__ = ['OverlayPlugin']
+
+
+def recent_mpl_version():
+    import matplotlib
+    version = matplotlib.__version__.split('.')
+    return int(version[0]) == 1 and int(version[1]) >= 2
+
+
 class OverlayPlugin(Plugin):
     """Plugin for ImageViewer that displays an overlay on top of main image.
 
@@ -25,6 +36,9 @@ class OverlayPlugin(Plugin):
               'cyan': (0, 1, 1)}
 
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
+        if not recent_mpl_version():
+            msg = "Matplotlib >= 1.2 required for OverlayPlugin."
+            warn(RuntimeWarning(msg))
         super(OverlayPlugin, self).__init__(**kwargs)
         self._overlay_plot = None
         self._overlay = None