I successfully installed cpu only tensorflow on ubuntu 16.04 using the default instructions provided here. The instructions recommended using virtualenv and pip so I did not build from source. I had no problems installing with these instructions.
I validated my installation using the instructions provided further down on the same page, and while the program ran successfully, it output the following warnings.
W tensorflow/core/platform/cpu_feature_guard.cc:45] The TensorFlow library wasn't compiled to use SSE3 instructions, but these are available on your machine and could speed up CPU computations.
W tensorflow/core/platform/cpu_feature_guard.cc:45] The TensorFlow library wasn't compiled to use SSE4.1 instructions, but these are available on your machine and could speed up CPU computations.
W tensorflow/core/platform/cpu_feature_guard.cc:45] The TensorFlow library wasn't compiled to use SSE4.2 instructions, but these are available on your machine and could speed up CPU computations.
Hello, TensorFlow!
all the stackoverflow pages i've looked at only address people who have built from source using bazel, but don't seem to apply to people who used pip.
How do I recompile or update my installation so as to the SSE instructions?