--- a/__init__.py	2018-07-11 15:57:58.086509489 -0700
+++ b/__init__.py	2018-07-11 16:04:15.004795500 -0700
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@
 from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function,
                         unicode_literals)
 
+import os
 import six
 import sys
 import distutils.version
@@ -110,6 +111,21 @@
 __version__ = str('1.4.2')
 __version__numpy__ = str('1.6')  # minimum required numpy version
 
+matplotlib_base = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+
+# Hack to point matplotlib at its data.
+os.environ['MATPLOTLIBDATA'] = \
+        os.path.join( \
+            matplotlib_base,
+            "usr", "share", "matplotlib", "mpl-data")
+# Avoid reading /etc/matplotlib in all cases. Matplotlib is pretty happy to
+# escape the sandbox by using absolute paths.
+os.environ['MATPLOTLIBRC'] = os.environ['MATPLOTLIBDATA']
+# There's a bug where the temp directory gets set if MATPLOTLIBRC isn't set.
+# That causes the directory to not be created in time. We set the variable
+# manually here to work around the bug.
+os.environ['MPLCONFIGDIR'] = '/tmp/matplotlib-nobody'
+
 try:
     import dateutil
 except ImportError: