Backport PR matplotlib#17470: FIX: add guardrails for too big tk figures

Author: QuLogic

lib/matplotlib/backends/_backend_tk.py

@@ -460,6 +460,17 @@ def _get_toolmanager(self):
         return toolmanager
 
     def resize(self, width, height):
+        max_size = 1_400_000  # the measured max on xorg 1.20.8 was 1_409_023
+
+        if (width > max_size or height > max_size) and sys.platform == 'linux':
+            raise ValueError(
+                'You have requested to resize the '
+                f'Tk window to ({width}, {height}), one of which '
+                f'is bigger than {max_size}.  At larger sizes xorg will '
+                'either exit with an error on newer versions (~1.20) or '
+                'cause corruption on older version (~1.19).  We '
+                'do not expect a window over a million pixel wide or tall '
+                'to be intended behavior.')
         self.canvas._tkcanvas.configure(width=width, height=height)
 
     def show(self):