colorbrewer with pgfplot 1.15

Question

I would like to use colorbrewer with pgfplots to nicely color some graphs in my document. However, this minimal working example given in the answer to another question

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.15}   
\usepgfplotslibrary{colorbrewer}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
    colorbrewer cycle list=Dark2,
]
\addplot {rnd};
\addplot {rnd-1};
\addplot {rnd-2};
\addplot {rnd-3};

\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}  

throws this error:

./Plots.tex:47: Package pgfkeys Error: I do not know the key '/tikz/colorbrewer cycle list', to which you passed 'Dark2', and I am going to ignore it. Perhaps you misspelled it.

I assume the error comes from an incorrect installation of the relevant files from Github. I am currently using MacOS.

I followed the installation steps and copied all files to a folder I created in

/usr/local/texlive/texmf-local/tex/latex/colorbrewer

and ran the texhash command - to no avail.

Why can't I get nice colors in my pgfplot plots? Am I at least correct in assuming that the installation is the cause of my troubles, or is the library already included in the colorbrewer package?

Answer 1

You shouldn't have to install the library separately, it is included with pgfplots. But you should use cycle list/Dark2, not colorbrewer cycle list=Dark2.

Output with ultra thick:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.15}   
\usepgfplotslibrary{colorbrewer}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
    cycle list/Dark2,
]
\addplot {rnd};
\addplot {rnd-1};
\addplot {rnd-2};
\addplot {rnd-3};

\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document} 

Answer 2

You first have to load the colormap/cycle list which is done by colormap/<colormap name/cycle list/<cycle list name>.

% used PGFPlots v1.15
\documentclass[border=5pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
    \usepgfplotslibrary{colorbrewer}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
        % activates the `cycle list', i.e. it is initialized and selected
        % (this will also initialize the associated `colormap', but doesn't
        %  select it)
        cycle list/Dark2,
    ]
        \addplot {rnd};
        \addplot {rnd-1};
        \addplot {rnd-2};
        \addplot {rnd-3};
    \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}