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

62
votes

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!

14
pythondjangopostgresqlvirtualenvpsycopg2
My answer was found here: stackoverflow.com/questions/26288042/… – Grant Eagon
This solution worked for wheel, venv & pip - stackoverflow.com/a/59596814/984471 – Manohar Reddy Poreddy
running sudo apt-get install libpq-dev and pip install psycopg2-binary worked for me, also after that i could run pipenv install psycopg2 – emad22552

14 Answers

65
votes

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 Anyway, I fixed this by finding the outdated packages and updating then.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pip list --outdated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...

54
votes

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
51
votes

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
18
votes

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 /
14
votes

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

12
votes

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.

10
votes

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

7
votes

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

pip install --upgrade wheel
5
votes

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?

4
votes

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

1
votes

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.

1
votes

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

1
votes

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.

0
votes

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.