matplotlib · QuLogic · May 12, 2026 · May 12, 2026
diff --git a/.appveyor.yml b/.appveyor.yml
@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@ init:
 install:
   - set EXTRA_PACKAGES=pywin32 codecov
   # These are optional dependencies so that we don't skip so many tests...
-  - set EXTRA_PACKAGES=%EXTRA_PACKAGES% ffmpeg inkscape
+  - set EXTRA_PACKAGES=%EXTRA_PACKAGES% ffmpeg
+  - choco install inkscape
   # miktex is available on conda, but seems to fail with permission errors.
   # missing packages on conda-forge for imagemagick
   # This install sometimes failed randomly :-(

diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/development/31660-ES.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/development/31660-ES.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+New minimum version of Inkscape
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The required version of Inkscape for testing SVG is now 1.0 (previously there was no
+minimum).
diff --git a/doc/install/dependencies.rst b/doc/install/dependencies.rst
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ otherwise they must be installed manually:
 External tools
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 - Ghostscript_ (>= 9.0, to render PDF files)
-- Inkscape_ (to render SVG files)
+- Inkscape_ (>= 1.0, to render SVG files)
 - `WenQuanYi Zen Hei`_ and `Noto Sans CJK`_ fonts for testing font fallback and
   non-Western fonts
 
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ Optional
 The documentation can be built without Inkscape and optipng, but the build
 process will raise various warnings.
 
-* Inkscape_
+* Inkscape_ (>= 1.0)
 * `optipng <http://optipng.sourceforge.net>`_
 * the font `xkcd script <https://github.com/ipython/xkcd-font/>`_ or `Comic Neue <https://github.com/crozynski/comicneue>`_
 * the font "Times New Roman"
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -446,15 +446,7 @@ def impl(args, regex, min_ver=None, ignore_exit_code=False):
         message = "Failed to find a Ghostscript installation"
         raise ExecutableNotFoundError(message)
     elif name == "inkscape":
-        try:
-            # Try headless option first (needed for Inkscape version < 1.0):
-            return impl(["inkscape", "--without-gui", "-V"],
-                        "Inkscape ([^ ]*)")
-        except ExecutableNotFoundError:
-            pass  # Suppress exception chaining.
-        # If --without-gui is not accepted, we may be using Inkscape >= 1.0 so
-        # try without it:
-        return impl(["inkscape", "-V"], "Inkscape ([^ ]*)")
+        return impl(["inkscape", "-V"], "Inkscape ([^ ]*)", min_ver="1")
     elif name == "magick":
         if sys.platform == "win32":
             # Check the registry to avoid confusing ImageMagick's convert with

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/testing/compare.py b/lib/matplotlib/testing/compare.py
@@ -146,8 +146,7 @@ def encode_and_escape(name):
 
 class _SVGConverter(_Converter):
     def __call__(self, orig, dest):
-        old_inkscape = mpl._get_executable_info("inkscape").version.major < 1
-        terminator = b"\n>" if old_inkscape else b"> "
+        terminator = b"> "
         if not hasattr(self, "_tmpdir"):
             self._tmpdir = TemporaryDirectory()
             # On Windows, we must make sure that self._proc has terminated
@@ -171,13 +170,11 @@ def __call__(self, orig, dest):
                 # Do not load any user options.
                 "INKSCAPE_PROFILE_DIR": self._tmpdir.name,
             }
-            # Old versions of Inkscape (e.g. 0.48.3.1) seem to sometimes
-            # deadlock when stderr is redirected to a pipe, so we redirect it
-            # to a temporary file instead.  This is not necessary anymore as of
-            # Inkscape 0.92.1.
+            # Certain versions of Inkscape (e.g., 1.2.2) seem to sometimes deadlock when
+            # stderr is redirected to a pipe, so we redirect it to a temporary file
+            # instead. This is not necessary anymore as of Inkscape 1.4.3.
             stderr = TemporaryFile()
             self._proc = subprocess.Popen(
-                ["inkscape", "--without-gui", "--shell"] if old_inkscape else
                 ["inkscape", "--shell"],
                 stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=stderr,
                 env=env, cwd=self._tmpdir.name)
@@ -200,7 +197,6 @@ def __call__(self, orig, dest):
         except OSError:
             shutil.copyfile(orig, inkscape_orig)
         self._proc.stdin.write(
-            b"f.svg --export-png=f.png\n" if old_inkscape else
             b"file-open:f.svg;export-filename:f.png;export-do;file-close\n")
         self._proc.stdin.flush()
         try: