How to install dlib for python on mac?

Question

I'm getting an error when trying to install dlib on Python 3.7 on macOS with

pip3 install dlib

I have installed CMake, so that is not the problem.
I'm getting these error messages:

Failed building wheel for dlib

and

Command "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python3.7 -u -c "import setuptools, tokenize;__file__='/private/var/folders/j2/nvk5521j2vn9s1w95_0vlwkm0000gn/T/pip-install-ls2e_3mr/dlib/setup.py';f=getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('\r\n', '\n');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, 'exec'))" install --record /private/var/folders/j2/nvk5521j2vn9s1w95_0vlwkm0000gn/T/pip-record-hy3hu262/install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile" 
failed with error code 1 in /private/var/folders/j2/nvk5521j2vn9s1w95_0vlwkm0000gn/T/pip-install-ls2e_3mr/dlib/

at the end in red. The reason I need dlib is to install face_recognition.

It installs successfully for me on python 3.7.2, pip3 19.0.2, cmake 3.13.4, dlib 19.16.0, and macOS 10.13.6. A few questions: (1) How did you install Python3 and CMake? (2) What is your MacOS version? — Gino Mempin, Feb 16 '19 at 03:25
I installed CMake with `pip3 install cmake`. I am on macOS 10.14.3. I installed Python 3.7.2 from the website just a few days ago. I am using CMake 3.13.3 — owcs, Feb 17 '19 at 18:44
Right after un/reinstalling cmake via both brew and pip in multiple combos from loads of SO posts, including removing brew entirely and reinstalling, I downgraded from python3.11 (by brew removing it) and installed python 3.9. `which python3.9` `which pip3.9` `pip install cmake` and `pip install dlib` and this finally worked. `cmake --version` == 3.25..2 — volvox, Mar 12 '23 at 22:20
And then `pip install face_recognition` worked. So basically it was a python upgrade that appeared to have broken my face_recognition scripting on my Monterey instance. — volvox, Mar 12 '23 at 22:21

Gino Mempin · Answer 1 · 2021-03-20T15:00:25.680

I think there's more to the error message and it's probably related to CMake, either it's not installed properly or it's not compatible with the pip3 install dlib.

I suggest using Homebrew to install Python3 (which includes pip3) and CMake. Homebrew manages the installation of packages, tools, libraries that might depend on system-related tools, paths, etc. It also prevents you from having to use sudo to install stuff on your system.

Install Homebrew

See the "Install Homebrew" section of https://brew.sh/

Basically:

$ /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

Install Python3 (and pip3) using Homebrew
- See https://docs.brew.sh/Homebrew-and-Python
- See Homebrew's formula for the latest Python3 (python3.7, python3.8, python3.9)
- Basically do one of the following:
```
$ brew install python@3.7  # or python@3.8 or python@3.9
$ brew install python@3    # get whichever is the latest version
```
Check Python installation
```
$ python3 -V
$ python3 -m pip -V
```
Install CMake using Homebrew
- See https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/cmake
- Basically:
```
$ brew install cmake
```
Check CMake installation
```
$ brew info cmake
$ cmake --version
```
Finally, install dlib with pip
```
$ python3 -m pip install dlib
```

If you don't want to use Homebrew (for some reason), you can try installing CMake for Mac directly using the installers (dmg or tar.gz) from here: https://cmake.org/download/.

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 28 '20 at 18:44

Install Homebrew from here

A bunch of dependencies are needed for dlib:

brew install cmake
brew install boost
brew install boost-python
brew install dlib
pip3 install numpy
pip3 install scipy
pip3 install scikit-image
pip3 install dlib

If this does not work, try:
```
python3 -m pip install dlib
```

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 13 '20 at 17:48

3

dlib is dependent on cmake so you need to install that first. You just need to run following commands on your terminal:

$ brew install cmake 
$ pip install cmake 
$ brew install dlib 
$ pip install dlib

answered Oct 13 '20 at 17:48

Gourav Singh Bais

61
4

`pip install dlib` fails like it did from other solutions in my searching. – volvox Mar 12 '23 at 22:04

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 08 '20 at 18:31

You can install the conda-forge Dlib package by running

conda install -c conda-forge dlib

Conda-forge has made sure to resolve all the dependency conflicts, so I had no issues with the installation. They have pre-built binaries for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS, and Python 2.7 through 3.8. The current package (at the time of this writing) is based on Dlib v19.19.

YOSHI BANSAL · Answer 5 · 2020-09-08T10:22:58.227

1

$ pip3 install --upgrade pip

$ pip3 install global

$ pip3 install cmake

$ pip3 install dlib

$ brew install dlib

$ sudo pip install dlib

edited Sep 08 '20 at 10:22

answered Sep 08 '20 at 09:49

YOSHI BANSAL

11
3

score -1 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 10 '20 at 15:42

-1

The only thing you need to do, I guess, is run pip3 install dlib with sudo.

sudo pip3 install dlib

answered Oct 10 '20 at 15:42

chandler lee

1

1

This information is already included in other answers, such as [this one](https://stackoverflow.com/a/63791375/2359227). If you have nothing to add please just upvote the best answer. Please read the [tour](https://stackoverflow.com/tour), and [How do I write a good answer?](https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-answer) – Tomer Shetah Oct 10 '20 at 16:37

How to install dlib for python on mac?

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