'"Failed building wheel for psycopg2" - MacOSX using virtualenv and pip

I'm attempting to make a website with a few others for the first time, and have run into a weird error when trying to use Django/Python/VirtualEnv. I've found solutions to this problem for other operating systems, such as Ubuntu, but can't find any good solutions for Mac.

This is the relevant code being run:

virtualenv -p python3 venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

After running that block, I get the following errors:

AssertionError

Failed building wheel for django-toolbelt Running setup.py bdist_wheel for psycopg2

...

AssertionError

Failed building wheel for psycopg2 Failed to build django-toolbelt psycopg2

I believe I've installed the "django-toolbelt" and "psycopg2", so I'm not sure why it would be failing.

The only difference I can think of is that I did not use the command

sudo apt-get install libpq-dev

as was instructed for Ubuntu usage as I believe that installing postgresql with brew took care of the header.

Thanks for any help or insight!

Solution 1:^[1]

I had the same problem on Arch linux. I think that it's not an OS dependant problem. Anyway, I fixed this by finding the outdated packages and updating then.

pip uninstall psycopg2
pip list --outdated
pip install --upgrade wheel
pip install --upgrade setuptools
pip install psycopg2

hope this helps...

Solution 2:^[2]

For MacOS users

After trying all the above methods (which did not work for me on MacOS 10.14), that one worked :

Install openssl with brew install openssl if you don't have it already.
add openssl path to LIBRARY_PATH :

export LIBRARY_PATH=$LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/opt/openssl/lib/

install psycopg2 with pip pip3 install psycopg2

Solution 3:^[3]

I was also getting same error. Using Python 3.7.3 and pip 19.1.1.

error screen

I used following command.

pip install psycopg2-binary==2.8.3

Solution 4:^[4]

I had same problem and this appears to be a Mojave Issue, I was able to resolve with:

sudo installer -pkg /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Packages/macOS_SDK_headers_for_macOS_10.14.pkg -target /

Solution 5:^[5]

TDLR

If you aren't used to installing Python C-extensions, and psycopg2 isn't a core part of your work, try

pip install psycopg2-binary

Building Locally

psycopg2 is a C-extension, so it requires compilation when being installed by pip. The Build Prerequisites section of the docs explain what must be done to make installation via pip possible. In summary (for psycopg 2.8.5):

a C compiler must be installed on the machine
the Python header files must be installed
the libpq header files must be installed
the pg_config program must be installed (it usually comes with the libpq headers) and on $PATH.

With these prerequisites satisfied, pip install psycopg2 ought to succeed.

Installing pre-compiled wheels

Alternatively, pip can install pre-compiled binaries so that compilation (and the associated setup) is not required. They can be installed like this:

pip install psycopg2-binary

The docs note that

The psycopg2-binary package is meant for beginners to start playing with Python and PostgreSQL without the need to meet the build requirements.

but I would suggest that psycopg2-binary is often good enough for local development work if you are not using psycopg2 directly, but just as a dependency.

Concluding advice

Read the informative installation documentation, not only to overcome installation issues but also to understand the impact of using the pre-compiled binaries in some scenarios.

Solution 6:^[6]

For Mac OS X users:

1. First check your postgresql path by running this command in terminal:

pg_config

If this fails lookup how to add pg_config to your path.

2. Next install Xcode Tools by running this command in terminal:

xcode-select --install

If you have both those sorted out now try to install psycopg2 again

Solution 7:^[7]

For MacOS users, this question has the correct solution:

install command line tools if necessary:

xcode-select --install

then

env LDFLAGS="-I/usr/local/opt/openssl/include -L/usr/local/opt/openssl/lib" pip install psycopg2

Solution 8:^[8]

On OS X, I was able to solve this by simply upgrading wheel before installing psycopg2:

pip install --upgrade wheel

Solution 9:^[9]

For OSX Sierra users, it seems that an xcode update is the solution: Can't install psycopg2 package through pip install... Is this because of Sierra?

Solution 10:^[10]

I tried all the above solutions but they did not work for me. What I did was change the psycopg2 version in my requirements.txt file from psycopg2==2.7.4 to psycopg2==2.7.6

Solution 11:^[11]

I was also facing the same after running all the above commands, but the following two commands worked for me:

Instead of pip, use this:

sudo apt-get install libpq-dev

then run this command:

pip install psycopg2

Solution 12:^[12]

Is your error message complete? the most encountered reason for failing to install psycopg2 on mac from pip is pg_config is not in path. by the way, using macports or fink to install psycopg2 is more recommended way, so you don't have to worry about pg_config, libpq-dev and python-dev.

plus, are using Python 3.5? then upgrage your wheel to > 0.25.0 using pip.

Solution 13:^[13]

I faced the same issue, but the answers above didn't work for me. So this is what I did in my requirements.txt psycopg2-binary==2.7.6.1 and it worked fine

Solution 14:^[14]

I had this issue on several packages, including psycopg2, numpy, and pandas. I simply removed the version from the requirements.txt file, and it worked.

So instead of psycopg2-binary==2.7.6.1 I just had psycopg2-binary.

Solution 15:^[15]

I know you are asking for development environment but if you are deploying on server say, Heroku. Just add below line in the requirements.txt of your project.

django-heroku==0.3.1

As this package itself will install the required packages like psycopg2 on server deployment.So let the server(heroku) should take care of it.

Solution 16:^[16]

sudo apt install libpq-dev python3.X-dev

where X is the sub version,

these should be followed by :

  pip install --upgrade wheel
  pip install --upgrade setuptools
  pip install psycopg2

Enjoy !!!

Solution 17:^[17]

I solved my problem by updating/installing vs_BuildTools. The link to the software was given in the error itself. Error Image

Solution 18:^[18]

Fixed by installing python3.7-dev: sudo apt install python3.7-dev, based on the link.

Python: 3.7
Ubuntu: 20.04.3 LTS

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution	Source
Solution 1	Nikolaos Dalezios
Solution 2	Romain
Solution 3	adiga
Solution 4	Farzad Farazmand
Solution 5
Solution 6	hahmed
Solution 7	John
Solution 8	Elmer Medez
Solution 9	Community
Solution 10	codezero11
Solution 11	Ian Campbell
Solution 12
Solution 13	Utsav Preet
Solution 14	keirasan
Solution 15	Christopher Nolan
Solution 16	Prason Ghimire
Solution 17	Muhammad Usama Farhat
Solution 18	tarasinf

'"Failed building wheel for psycopg2" - MacOSX using virtualenv and pip

Solution 1:[1]

Solution 2:[2]

Solution 3:[3]

Solution 4:[4]

Solution 5:[5]

TDLR

Building Locally

Installing pre-compiled wheels

Concluding advice

Solution 6:[6]

Solution 7:[7]

Solution 8:[8]

Solution 9:[9]

Solution 10:[10]

Solution 11:[11]

Solution 12:[12]

Solution 13:[13]

Solution 14:[14]

Solution 15:[15]

Solution 16:[16]

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Solution 18:[18]