How to install psycopg2 with “pip” on Python?

Question

I'm using virtualenv and I need to install "psycopg2".

I have done the following:

pip install http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/psycopg2/psycopg2-2.4.tar.gz#md5=24f4368e2cfdc1a2b03282ddda814160

And I have the following messages:

Downloading/unpacking http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/psycopg2/psycopg2
-2.4.tar.gz#md5=24f4368e2cfdc1a2b03282ddda814160
  Downloading psycopg2-2.4.tar.gz (607Kb): 607Kb downloaded
  Running setup.py egg_info for package from http://pypi.python.org/packages/sou
rce/p/psycopg2/psycopg2-2.4.tar.gz#md5=24f4368e2cfdc1a2b03282ddda814160
    Error: pg_config executable not found.

    Please add the directory containing pg_config to the PATH
    or specify the full executable path with the option:

        python setup.py build_ext --pg-config /path/to/pg_config build ...

    or with the pg_config option in 'setup.cfg'.
    Complete output from command python setup.py egg_info:
    running egg_info

creating pip-egg-info\psycopg2.egg-info

writing pip-egg-info\psycopg2.egg-info\PKG-INFO

writing top-level names to pip-egg-info\psycopg2.egg-info\top_level.txt

writing dependency_links to pip-egg-info\psycopg2.egg-info\dependency_links.txt

writing manifest file 'pip-egg-info\psycopg2.egg-info\SOURCES.txt'

warning: manifest_maker: standard file '-c' not found

Error: pg_config executable not found.



Please add the directory containing pg_config to the PATH

or specify the full executable path with the option:



    python setup.py build_ext --pg-config /path/to/pg_config build ...



or with the pg_config option in 'setup.cfg'.

----------------------------------------
Command python setup.py egg_info failed with error code 1
Storing complete log in C:\Documents and Settings\anlopes\Application Data\pip\p
ip.log

My question, I only need to do this to get the psycopg2 working?

python setup.py build_ext --pg-config /path/to/pg_config build ...

Answer 1

On OSX with macports:

sudo port install postgresql96
export PATH=/opt/local/lib/postgresql96/bin:$PATH

Answer 2

if you're on a mac you can use homebrew

brew install postgresql

And all other options are here: http://www.postgresql.org/download/macosx/

Good luck

Answer 3

I've been battling with this for days, and have finally figured out how to get the "pip install psycopg2" command to run in a virtualenv in Windows (running Cygwin).

I was hitting the "pg_config executable not found." error, but I had already downloaded and installed postgres in Windows. It installed in Cygwin as well; running "which pg_config" in Cygwin gave "/usr/bin/pg_config", and running "pg_config" gave sane output -- however the version installed with Cygwin is:

VERSION = PostgreSQL 8.2.11

This won't work with the current version of psycopg2, which appears to require at least 9.1. When I added "c:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.2\bin" to my Windows path, the Cygwin pip installer was able to find the correct version of PostgreSQL, and I was able to successfully install the module using pip. (This is probably preferable to using the Cygwin version of PostgreSQL anyway, as the native version will run much quicker).

Answer 4

In Arch base distributions:

sudo pacman -S python-psycopg2
pip2 install psycopg2  # Use pip or pip3 to python3

Answer 5

I found this post searching for a Linux solution to this problem.

This post by "goshawk" gave me the solution: run sudo apt-get install libpq-dev python-dev if you are on Ubuntu/Debian.

Update

Since more people have found this answer useful and posted their own solutions, here's a list of them:

Debian/Ubuntu

Python 2

sudo apt install libpq-dev python-dev

Python 3

sudo apt install libpq-dev python3-dev

Additional

If none of the above solve your issue, try

sudo apt install build-essential

or

sudo apt install postgresql-server-dev-all

Answer 6

On Ubuntu I just needed the postgres dev package:

sudo apt-get install postgresql-server-dev-all

*Tested in a virtualenv