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I am trying to install mysqlclient for python in my virtualenv. It fails with the following: 

 #include "Python.h"

                ^

compilation terminated.
error: command 'x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc' failed with exit status 1

After some research, i found out that i require python-dev installation. I have it installed in my main directories (i.e /usr/bin ... ) but its not installed virtualenv but each time i type: 

sudo apt-get install python-dev

I get the following response: 

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
python-dev is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 453 not upgraded.

Showing its availability, outside the virtualenv mysqlclient installs properly. The issue is how to rectify python-dev installation into the virtualenv

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  • @downshift doesn't work .. python-dev executable not found. Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 18:45
  • 1
    @downshift python-dev is not an executable but a set of *.h header. Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 18:54
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    @Subomi.js What version of Python? For Python 3 you need python3-dev. Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 18:56
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    @Subomi How will apt-get install python3-dev add header files to the virtual environment? I am facing a similar issue where I require python3-dev for a virtual environment. Please let me know if you were able to solve this and how. Thanks. Commented Sep 18, 2018 at 1:00
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    @saharudra hi, once you activate your virtualenv. It changes your PATH variables and so when you do apt-get intsall python3-dev you're installing it into the proper location where the python3 compiler can locate the headers. Commented Sep 18, 2018 at 11:07

6 Answers 6

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4

I am currently having issue in Ubuntu 20 where the default python is python 3.8. This causes issue when I try to install Pillow in a virtualenv created by pipenv that need to use python 3.9.

The simplest solution I found so far is to install python-dev for 3.9

sudo apt install python3.9-dev

Previously I install python3-dev which always default to 3.8

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4

pyenv (https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv) is simply magic as it allows you to install different versions of Python, dev included (list available versions with pyenv install --list). Sometimes I run into problems of the "Python library not found" sort and Ubuntu suggests building with "--enable-shared". This can be done with pyenv as follows:

CONFIGURE_OPTS=--enable-shared pyenv install 3.9-dev

It is also worth checking out pyenv-virtualenv (https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv-virtualenv).

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1

Maybe not the best way but my solution was installing miniconda. You can also probably try the larger Anaconda distribution. I believe these distributions have built-in python-dev.

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0

This is because virtualenv not link include and lib directory to virtualenv's directory. I solve this by using anaconda virtual env. wish helps.

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On Ubuntu 16.04, I followed these instructions to successfully set up a Python virtual environment with python3-dev.

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apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev (from the linked article) solved the issue but it downgraded GCC version, bringing another problem.
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I believe python-dev will already be installed. you may not be including the header files path while compiling.

u can search for Python.h by:

find <venv folder> | grep Python.h

If it is not able to find the file in your virtual environment, a simple command like below should install it:

pip install python-dev (or python2/3.x-dev)

Once u have the path, you need to compile your file by adding that path, for example if you are using conda:

gcc <<your prev command args>> -I/home/<user>/anaconda3/envs/<<vinv_name>>/include/python3.7m/

If you are using a make utility you can also set the path in C_INCLUDE_PATH (or CPP_INCLUDE_PATH if using c++) by using export as:

export C_INCLUDE_PATH=/home/<user>/anaconda3/envs/<<vinv_name>>/include/python3.7m/

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