Python: error when installing lxml on OS X

Question

For whatever I'm installing with pip, I got this:

Command /usr/bin/python -c "import setuptools, tokenize;__file__='/private/var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip_build_youweizhu/lxml/setup.py';exec(compile(getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(__file__).read().replace('\r\n', '\n'), __file__, 'exec'))" install --record /var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip-0wnEw6-record/install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile failed with error code 1 in /private/var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip_build_youweizhu/lxml
Storing debug log for failure in /Users/youweizhu/Library/Logs/pip.log

For example:

$ pip install lxml

I got

Downloading/unpacking lxml
  Downloading lxml-3.4.1.tar.gz (3.5MB): 3.5MB downloaded
  Running setup.py (path:/private/var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip_build_youweizhu/lxml/setup.py) egg_info for package lxml
    /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/distutils/dist.py:267: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'bugtrack_url'
      warnings.warn(msg)
    Building lxml version 3.4.1.
    Building without Cython.
    Using build configuration of libxslt 1.1.28

    warning: no previously-included files found matching '*.py'
Installing collected packages: lxml
  Running setup.py install for lxml
    /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/distutils/dist.py:267: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'bugtrack_url'
      warnings.warn(msg)
    Building lxml version 3.4.1.
    Building without Cython.
    Using build configuration of libxslt 1.1.28
    building 'lxml.etree' extension
    cc -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -dynamic -arch x86_64 -arch i386 -g -Os -pipe -fno-common -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -DENABLE_DTRACE -DMACOSX -DNDEBUG -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wshorten-64-to-32 -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -Os -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -DENABLE_DTRACE -arch x86_64 -arch i386 -pipe -I/usr/include/libxml2 -I/private/var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip_build_youweizhu/lxml/src/lxml/includes -I/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/include/python2.7 -c src/lxml/lxml.etree.c -o build/temp.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/src/lxml/lxml.etree.o -w -flat_namespace
    In file included from src/lxml/lxml.etree.c:239:
    /private/var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip_build_youweizhu/lxml/src/lxml/includes/etree_defs.h:14:10: fatal error: 'libxml/xmlversion.h' file not found
    #include "libxml/xmlversion.h"
             ^
    1 error generated.
    error: command 'cc' failed with exit status 1
    Complete output from command /usr/bin/python -c "import setuptools, tokenize;__file__='/private/var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip_build_youweizhu/lxml/setup.py';exec(compile(getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(__file__).read().replace('\r\n', '\n'), __file__, 'exec'))" install --record /var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip-0wnEw6-record/install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile:
    /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/distutils/dist.py:267: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'bugtrack_url'

  warnings.warn(msg)

Building lxml version 3.4.1.

Building without Cython.

Using build configuration of libxslt 1.1.28

running install

running build

running build_py

creating build

creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7

creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/__init__.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/_elementpath.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/builder.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/cssselect.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/doctestcompare.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/ElementInclude.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/pyclasslookup.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/sax.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/usedoctest.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/__init__.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/__init__.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/_diffcommand.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/_html5builder.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/_setmixin.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/builder.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/clean.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/defs.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/diff.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/ElementSoup.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/formfill.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/html5parser.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/soupparser.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

copying src/lxml/html/usedoctest.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/html

creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron

copying src/lxml/isoschematron/__init__.py -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron

copying src/lxml/lxml.etree.h -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/lxml.etree_api.h -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml

copying src/lxml/includes/c14n.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/config.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/dtdvalid.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/etreepublic.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/htmlparser.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/relaxng.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/schematron.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/tree.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/uri.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/xinclude.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/xmlerror.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/xmlparser.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/xmlschema.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/xpath.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/xslt.pxd -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/etree_defs.h -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

copying src/lxml/includes/lxml-version.h -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/includes

creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources

creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/rng

copying src/lxml/isoschematron/resources/rng/iso-schematron.rng -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/rng

creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl

copying src/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/RNG2Schtrn.xsl -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl

copying src/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/XSD2Schtrn.xsl -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl

creating build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1/iso_abstract_expand.xsl -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1/iso_dsdl_include.xsl -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1/iso_schematron_message.xsl -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1/iso_schematron_skeleton_for_xslt1.xsl -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1/iso_svrl_for_xslt1.xsl -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1

copying src/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1/readme.txt -> build/lib.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/lxml/isoschematron/resources/xsl/iso-schematron-xslt1

running build_ext

building 'lxml.etree' extension

creating build/temp.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7

creating build/temp.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/src

creating build/temp.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/src/lxml

cc -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -dynamic -arch x86_64 -arch i386 -g -Os -pipe -fno-common -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -DENABLE_DTRACE -DMACOSX -DNDEBUG -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wshorten-64-to-32 -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -Os -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -DENABLE_DTRACE -arch x86_64 -arch i386 -pipe -I/usr/include/libxml2 -I/private/var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip_build_youweizhu/lxml/src/lxml/includes -I/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/include/python2.7 -c src/lxml/lxml.etree.c -o build/temp.macosx-10.9-intel-2.7/src/lxml/lxml.etree.o -w -flat_namespace

In file included from src/lxml/lxml.etree.c:239:

/private/var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip_build_youweizhu/lxml/src/lxml/includes/etree_defs.h:14:10: fatal error: 'libxml/xmlversion.h' file not found

#include "libxml/xmlversion.h"

         ^

1 error generated.

error: command 'cc' failed with exit status 1

----------------------------------------
Cleaning up...
Command /usr/bin/python -c "import setuptools, tokenize;__file__='/private/var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip_build_youweizhu/lxml/setup.py';exec(compile(getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(__file__).read().replace('\r\n', '\n'), __file__, 'exec'))" install --record /var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip-0wnEw6-record/install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile failed with error code 1 in /private/var/folders/kn/mmhj7w0n54s4b2jr08sx46kr0000gn/T/pip_build_youweizhu/lxml
Storing debug log for failure in /Users/youweizhu/Library/Logs/pip.log

I'm crying...

navins · Answer 1 · 2015-04-15T08:42:02.550

3

try this command:

STATIC_DEPS=true pip install lxml

from doc: http://lxml.de/installation.html#using-lxml-with-python-libxml2

or Try:

sudo ln -s  /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.9.sdk/usr/include/libxml2/libxml/ /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.9.sdk/usr/include/libxml

edited Apr 15 '15 at 08:42

answered Apr 14 '15 at 11:34

navins

3,429
2
28
29

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Andre Augusto pointed out

If you want to use lxml together with the official libxml2 Python bindings (maybe because one of your dependencies uses it), you must build lxml statically. Otherwise, the two packages will interfere in places where the libxml2 library requires global configuration, which can have any kind of effect from disappearing functionality to crashes in either of the two.

To get a static build, either pass the --static-deps option to the setup.py script, or run pip with the STATIC_DEPS or STATICBUILD environment variable set to true, i.e.

STATIC_DEPS=true pip install lxml

The STATICBUILD environment variable is handled equivalently to the STATIC_DEPS variable, but is used by some other extension packages, too.

from the lxml docs here.. http://lxml.de/installation.html#using-lxml-with-python-libxml2

his original post is here: Cannot install Lxml on Mac os x 10.9 There's some other ios related fixes there as well.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 16 '16 at 11:17

Here is a line that works

STATIC_DEPS=true LIBXML2_VERSION=2.9.2 pip install lxml

I had the same problem myself, and I found this answer at http://louistiao.me/posts/installing-lxml-on-mac-osx-1011-inside-a-virtualenv-with-pip/

I also raise a bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/lxml/+bug/1546046 and I recommend you to add a comment there, otherwise it will be ignored and the lxml user experience will continue to suck.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 17 '23 at 07:53

0

I have solved it by following command

pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall --use-pep517 lxml --install-option="--static-deps=true" --install-option="--libxml2-version=2.11.4"

answered Aug 17 '23 at 07:53

cane

892
1
10
16

Python: error when installing lxml on OS X

4 Answers4