How to install psycopg2 with pg_config error?
PythonPostgresqlPsycopg2Python Problem Overview
I've tried to install psycopg2 (PostgreSQL Database adapater) from this site, but when I try to install after I cd into the package and write
python setup.py install
I get the following error:
Please add the directory containing pg_config to the PATH
or specify the full executable path with the option:
python setup.py build_ext --pg-config /path/to/pg_config build ...
or with the pg_config option in 'setup.cfg'.
I've also tried 'sudo pip install psycopg2' and I got the same message.
After reading through the docs, it asks to look at the setup.cfg file (which is below):
[build_ext]
define=
# PSYCOPG_DISPLAY_SIZE enable display size calculation (a little slower)
# HAVE_PQFREEMEM should be defined on PostgreSQL >= 7.4
# PSYCOPG_DEBUG can be added to enable verbose debug information
# "pg_config" is required to locate PostgreSQL headers and libraries needed to
# build psycopg2. If pg_config is not in the path or is installed under a
# different name uncomment the following option and set it to the pg_config
# full path.
#pg_config=
# Set to 1 to use Python datetime objects for default date/time representation.
use_pydatetime=1
# If the build system does not find the mx.DateTime headers, try
# uncommenting the following line and setting its value to the right path.
#mx_include_dir=
# For Windows only:
# Set to 1 if the PostgreSQL library was built with OpenSSL.
# Required to link in OpenSSL libraries and dependencies.
have_ssl=0
# Statically link against the postgresql client library.
#static_libpq=1
# Add here eventual extra libraries required to link the module.
#libraries=
However, I'm not sure if I'm suppose to edit this file, since the documentation states the following:
then take a look at the setup.cfg file.
Some of the options available in setup.cfg are also available as command line arguments of the build_ext sub-command. For instance you can specify an alternate pg_config version using:
$ python setup.py build_ext --pg-config /path/to/pg_config build
Use python setup.py build_ext --help to get a list of the options supported.
I've gotten the list of options supported but I'm not sure where to go from there
Python Solutions
Solution 1 - Python
Debian/Ubuntu
Python 2
sudo apt install libpq-dev python-dev
Python 3
sudo apt install libpq-dev python3-dev
Additional
If none of the above solve your issue, try
sudo apt install build-essential
or
sudo apt install postgresql-server-dev-all
With pip
Install the psycopg2-binary PyPI package instead, it has Python wheels for Linux and Mac OS.
pip install psycopg2-binary
Solution 2 - Python
I was getting this issue because I hadn't yet installed PostgreSQL on my machine yet.
For Mac just a simple brew install postgresql fixed the problem.
Solution 3 - Python
If you need to install without compiling:
pip install psycopg2-binary
https://www.psycopg.org/docs/install.html#binary-install-from-pypi > Note: The psycopg2-binary package is meant for beginners to start > playing with Python and PostgreSQL without the need to meet the build > requirements. If you are the maintainer of a publish package depending > on psycopg2 you shouldn’t use ‘psycopg2-binary’ as a module > dependency. For production use you are advised to use the source distribution.
Solution 4 - Python
If you are on Ubuntu or any other debian-based distro, try
sudo apt-get install python3-psycopg2
Otherwise, you need to find and install the Postgresql client packages for your distribution. psycopg2 installation from source
Solution 5 - Python
Upgrading pip worked for me: pip install --upgrade pip
Solution 6 - Python
On Macbook with M1 i had to install postgresql
brew install postgresql
(If you don't have brew: https://brew.sh)
then run the install again
python3 -m pip install psycopg2-binary
Solution 7 - Python
For OSX with Macports, you can install sudo port install py38-psycopg2 for Python 3.8. You can search for your version of Python with port search psycopg2. At the time of writing, the versions range from 2.7 to 3.9 all up to date with version 2.8.6 of psycopg2.
Note: This probably will not help in a venv.
Edit: So to find your pg_config for a venv, run the command port contents postgresql13 | grep pg_config where postgresql13 is the version of the package of postgresql installed from the above port command. You are looking for a path such as /opt/local/lib/postgresql13/bin/pg_config. Export that to your PATH variable with a command such as export PATH=/opt/local/lib/postgresql13/bin/:$PATH.
Refer to this answer for Homebrew.
Solution 8 - Python
On Fedora (tested and built from source on Fedora 35)
pg_config is present in libpq5-devel.
Now try these steps:
sudo dnf install libpq5-devel
python setup.py build
sudo python setup.py install
Solution 9 - Python
For mac os
install postgresql with : brew install postgresql
then
install psycopg2 with : pip install psycopg2
worked for me
Solution 10 - Python
For people building postgres and psycopg2 from source like me, another solution is here:
sudo su
export PATH=/usr/local/pgsql/bin:$PATH #or path to your pg_config
Now setup.py from psycopg2 could find pg_config correctly.
python3 setup.py install
or if you just want to use pip3, pip3 install psycopg2 should work too.