How to install psycopg2 with pg_config error?
Question:
I’ve tried to install psycopg2 (PostgreSQL Database adapater) from this site, but when I try to install after I cd into the package and write
python setup.py install
I get the following error:
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'.
I’ve also tried ‘sudo pip install psycopg2’ and I got the same message.
After reading through the docs, it asks to look at the setup.cfg file (which is below):
[build_ext]
define=
# PSYCOPG_DISPLAY_SIZE enable display size calculation (a little slower)
# HAVE_PQFREEMEM should be defined on PostgreSQL >= 7.4
# PSYCOPG_DEBUG can be added to enable verbose debug information
# "pg_config" is required to locate PostgreSQL headers and libraries needed to
# build psycopg2. If pg_config is not in the path or is installed under a
# different name uncomment the following option and set it to the pg_config
# full path.
#pg_config=
# Set to 1 to use Python datetime objects for default date/time representation.
use_pydatetime=1
# If the build system does not find the mx.DateTime headers, try
# uncommenting the following line and setting its value to the right path.
#mx_include_dir=
# For Windows only:
# Set to 1 if the PostgreSQL library was built with OpenSSL.
# Required to link in OpenSSL libraries and dependencies.
have_ssl=0
# Statically link against the postgresql client library.
#static_libpq=1
# Add here eventual extra libraries required to link the module.
#libraries=
However, I’m not sure if I’m suppose to edit this file, since the documentation states the following:
then take a look at the setup.cfg file.
Some of the options available in setup.cfg are also available as command line arguments of the build_ext sub-command. For instance you can specify an alternate pg_config version using:
$ python setup.py build_ext --pg-config /path/to/pg_config build
Use python setup.py build_ext --help to get a list of the options supported.
I’ve gotten the list of options supported but I’m not sure where to go from there
Answers:
If you are on Ubuntu or any other debian-based distro, try
sudo apt-get install python3-psycopg2
Otherwise, you need to find and install the Postgresql client packages for your distribution. psycopg2 installation from source
For people building postgres and psycopg2 from source like me, another solution is here:
sudo su
export PATH=/usr/local/pgsql/bin:$PATH #or path to your pg_config
Now setup.py from psycopg2 could find pg_config correctly.
python3 setup.py install
or if you just want to use pip3, pip3 install psycopg2 should work too.
Upgrading pip worked for me: pip install –upgrade pip
Debian/Ubuntu
Python 2
sudo apt install libpq-dev python-dev
Python 3
sudo apt install libpq-dev python3-dev
Additional
If none of the above solve your issue, try
sudo apt install build-essential
or
sudo apt install postgresql-server-dev-all
With pip
Install the psycopg2-binary PyPI package instead, it has Python wheels for Linux and Mac OS.
pip install psycopg2-binary
I was getting this issue because I hadn’t yet installed PostgreSQL on my machine.
For Mac
brew install postgresql
For Mac without brew
python3 -m pip install psycopg2-binary
If you need to install without compiling:
pip install psycopg2-binary
https://www.psycopg.org/docs/install.html#binary-install-from-pypi
Note: The psycopg2-binary package is meant for beginners to start
playing with Python and PostgreSQL without the need to meet the build
requirements. If you are the maintainer of a publish package depending
on psycopg2 you shouldn’t use ‘psycopg2-binary’ as a module
dependency. For production use you are advised to use the source distribution.
For OSX with Macports, you can install sudo port install py38-psycopg2 for Python 3.8. You can search for your version of Python with port search psycopg2. At the time of writing, the versions range from 2.7 to 3.9 all up to date with version 2.8.6 of psycopg2.
Note: This probably will not help in a venv.
Edit: So to find your pg_config for a venv, run the command port contents postgresql13 | grep pg_config where postgresql13 is the version of the package of postgresql installed from the above port command. You are looking for a path such as /opt/local/lib/postgresql13/bin/pg_config. Export that to your PATH variable with a command such as export PATH=/opt/local/lib/postgresql13/bin/:$PATH.
Refer to this answer for Homebrew.
On Macbook with M1 i had to install postgresql
brew install postgresql
(If you don’t have brew: https://brew.sh)
then run the install again
python3 -m pip install psycopg2-binary
On Fedora (tested and built from source on Fedora 35)
pg_config is present in libpq5-devel.
Now try these steps:
sudo dnf install libpq5-devel
python setup.py build
sudo python setup.py install
For mac os
install postgresql with : brew install postgresql
then
install psycopg2 with : pip install psycopg2
worked for me
If you installed Postgres.app on macOS, add its bin directory to the PATH environment variable:
export PATH=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin:$PATH
Incase you are using PyCharm/Visual Code Studio terminal, don’t do it. Use the default system terminal, as it ensures correct format of brew install is done.
On M1 pro with Intel chip:
brew install postgresql
pip install psycopg2
For me just this worked on Mac:
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install psycopg2-binary
For Mac
I had this issue too. I had followed a guide that had me run
brew install postgresql@15
This worked, but I kept getting the error
Error: pg_config executable not found.
So I then tried to brew install postgres without the @15 after it, and it worked! So, if you have installed postgresql@15 or @any-number, try to brew install without a number.
brew install postgresql
Your error is becouse didn’t install the prerequisites on your machine or environment.
You can install prerequisites from here.
In this case probably your missing prerequisite is postgresql you can try below instructors.
For Mac
brew install postgresql
For Linux
sudo apt-get install postgresql
I’ve tried to install psycopg2 (PostgreSQL Database adapater) from this site, but when I try to install after I cd into the package and write
python setup.py install
I get the following error:
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'.
I’ve also tried ‘sudo pip install psycopg2’ and I got the same message.
After reading through the docs, it asks to look at the setup.cfg file (which is below):
[build_ext]
define=
# PSYCOPG_DISPLAY_SIZE enable display size calculation (a little slower)
# HAVE_PQFREEMEM should be defined on PostgreSQL >= 7.4
# PSYCOPG_DEBUG can be added to enable verbose debug information
# "pg_config" is required to locate PostgreSQL headers and libraries needed to
# build psycopg2. If pg_config is not in the path or is installed under a
# different name uncomment the following option and set it to the pg_config
# full path.
#pg_config=
# Set to 1 to use Python datetime objects for default date/time representation.
use_pydatetime=1
# If the build system does not find the mx.DateTime headers, try
# uncommenting the following line and setting its value to the right path.
#mx_include_dir=
# For Windows only:
# Set to 1 if the PostgreSQL library was built with OpenSSL.
# Required to link in OpenSSL libraries and dependencies.
have_ssl=0
# Statically link against the postgresql client library.
#static_libpq=1
# Add here eventual extra libraries required to link the module.
#libraries=
However, I’m not sure if I’m suppose to edit this file, since the documentation states the following:
then take a look at the setup.cfg file.
Some of the options available in setup.cfg are also available as command line arguments of the build_ext sub-command. For instance you can specify an alternate pg_config version using:
$ python setup.py build_ext --pg-config /path/to/pg_config build
Use python setup.py build_ext --help to get a list of the options supported.
I’ve gotten the list of options supported but I’m not sure where to go from there
If you are on Ubuntu or any other debian-based distro, try
sudo apt-get install python3-psycopg2
Otherwise, you need to find and install the Postgresql client packages for your distribution. psycopg2 installation from source
For people building postgres and psycopg2 from source like me, another solution is here:
sudo su
export PATH=/usr/local/pgsql/bin:$PATH #or path to your pg_config
Now setup.py from psycopg2 could find pg_config correctly.
python3 setup.py install
or if you just want to use pip3, pip3 install psycopg2 should work too.
Upgrading pip worked for me: pip install –upgrade pip
Debian/Ubuntu
Python 2
sudo apt install libpq-dev python-dev
Python 3
sudo apt install libpq-dev python3-dev
Additional
If none of the above solve your issue, try
sudo apt install build-essential
or
sudo apt install postgresql-server-dev-all
With pip
Install the psycopg2-binary PyPI package instead, it has Python wheels for Linux and Mac OS.
pip install psycopg2-binary
I was getting this issue because I hadn’t yet installed PostgreSQL on my machine.
For Mac
brew install postgresql
For Mac without brew
python3 -m pip install psycopg2-binary
If you need to install without compiling:
pip install psycopg2-binary
https://www.psycopg.org/docs/install.html#binary-install-from-pypi
Note: The psycopg2-binary package is meant for beginners to start
playing with Python and PostgreSQL without the need to meet the build
requirements. If you are the maintainer of a publish package depending
on psycopg2 you shouldn’t use ‘psycopg2-binary’ as a module
dependency. For production use you are advised to use the source distribution.
For OSX with Macports, you can install sudo port install py38-psycopg2 for Python 3.8. You can search for your version of Python with port search psycopg2. At the time of writing, the versions range from 2.7 to 3.9 all up to date with version 2.8.6 of psycopg2.
Note: This probably will not help in a venv.
Edit: So to find your pg_config for a venv, run the command port contents postgresql13 | grep pg_config where postgresql13 is the version of the package of postgresql installed from the above port command. You are looking for a path such as /opt/local/lib/postgresql13/bin/pg_config. Export that to your PATH variable with a command such as export PATH=/opt/local/lib/postgresql13/bin/:$PATH.
Refer to this answer for Homebrew.
On Macbook with M1 i had to install postgresql
brew install postgresql
(If you don’t have brew: https://brew.sh)
then run the install again
python3 -m pip install psycopg2-binary
On Fedora (tested and built from source on Fedora 35)
pg_config is present in libpq5-devel.
Now try these steps:
sudo dnf install libpq5-devel
python setup.py build
sudo python setup.py install
For mac os
install postgresql with : brew install postgresql
then
install psycopg2 with : pip install psycopg2
worked for me
If you installed Postgres.app on macOS, add its bin directory to the PATH environment variable:
export PATH=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin:$PATH
Incase you are using PyCharm/Visual Code Studio terminal, don’t do it. Use the default system terminal, as it ensures correct format of brew install is done.
On M1 pro with Intel chip:
brew install postgresql
pip install psycopg2
For me just this worked on Mac:
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install psycopg2-binary
For Mac
I had this issue too. I had followed a guide that had me run
brew install postgresql@15
This worked, but I kept getting the error
Error: pg_config executable not found.
So I then tried to brew install postgres without the @15 after it, and it worked! So, if you have installed postgresql@15 or @any-number, try to brew install without a number.
brew install postgresql
Your error is becouse didn’t install the prerequisites on your machine or environment.
You can install prerequisites from here.
In this case probably your missing prerequisite is postgresql you can try below instructors.
For Mac
brew install postgresql
For Linux
sudo apt-get install postgresql