I'm trying to install psycopg2 onto Mac OS 10.

Question

I'm desperately trying to successfully install psycopg2 but keep running into errors. The latest one seems to involve it not being to find "stdarg.h" (see code below). However I can see with my own eyes that a file called stdarg.h exists at /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk/usr/include/stdarg.h (where it claims it can't find anything) so I've no idea what to do about it.

I'm running Mac OS 10.6.3 and within the last few days I've made sure I have all the latest OS developer tools.

I have Python 2.6.2 and PostgreSQL 8.4 if that makes any difference.

python setup.py install    
running install
running build
running build_py
running build_ext
building 'psycopg2._psycopg' extension
creating build/temp.macosx-10.3-fat-2.6
creating build/temp.macosx-10.3-fat-2.6/psycopg
gcc -arch ppc -arch i386 -isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -dynamic -DNDEBUG -g -O3 -DPSYCOPG_DEFAULT_PYDATETIME=1 -DPSYCOPG_VERSION="2.2.1 (dt dec ext pq3)" -DPG_VERSION_HEX=0x080404 -DPSYCOPG_EXTENSIONS=1 -DPSYCOPG_NEW_BOOLEAN=1 -DHAVE_PQFREEMEM=1 -DHAVE_PQPROTOCOL3=1 -I/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/include/python2.6 -I. -I/opt/local/include/postgresql84 -I/opt/local/include/postgresql84/server -c psycopg/psycopgmodule.c -o build/temp.macosx-10.3-fat-2.6/psycopg/psycopgmodule.o
In file included from /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/include/python2.6/unicodeobject.h:4,
             from /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/include/python2.6/Python.h:85,
             from psycopg/psycopgmodule.c:27:
/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk/usr/include/stdarg.h:4:25: error: stdarg.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/include/python2.6/unicodeobject.h:4,
             from /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/include/python2.6/Python.h:85,
             from psycopg/psycopgmodule.c:27:
/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk/usr/include/stdarg.h:4:25: error: stdarg.h: No such file or directory
lipo: can't figure out the architecture type of: /var/folders/MQ/MQ-tWOWWG+izzuZCrAJpzk+++TI/-Tmp-//ccakFhRS.out
error: command 'gcc' failed with exit status 

Answer 1

The following works for me:

1. $ mkvirtualenv --no-site-packages --distribute psycopg2_test
2. $ cd $VIRTUAL_ENV
3. $ pip install psycopg2

Notes

• I installed my base Python via MacPorts.

• The above commands make use of:

  • pip
  • virtualenvwrapper
  • virtualenv

• I bootstrapped pip via the following:

  1. wget http://python-distribute.org/distribute_setup.py
  2. python distribute_setup.py
  3. easy_install pip

UPDATE: I realize it seems like a lot of yak shaving, but learning how to use virtualenv and friends is an up-front investment that pays off pretty quickly, especially when dealing with projects that have a lot of dependencies.

Answer 2

I don't know your specific problem but i recommend you to install it using macports.
Installing psycopg2 is as simply as:

sudo port install py26-psycopg2

Answer 3

I actually had a very similar problem as this (except with OSX Lion, Python 2.7) Can't install psycopg2 in virtualenv "error: stdarg.h: No such file or directory".

I ended up using this solution: https://stackoverflow.com/a/8834568/396327

Basically, uninstalling/reinstalling XCode from scratch (and a few more hacks to get it to recognize gcc-4.2).