PyEnv BUILD FAILED installing Python on MacOS

Question

While trying to install Python 3.6.6 (for Airflow) using PyEnv on MacOS, I am encountering build failure with following stack-trace

File
"/private/var/folders/6y/kf699bqj2sgcgjshb20fr5zh0000gn/T/python-build.20180721180716.86347/Python-3.6.6/Lib/xmlrpc/client.py",
line 138, in <module>
    from xml.parsers import expat   File "/private/var/folders/6y/kf699bqj2sgcgjshb20fr5zh0000gn/T/python-build.20180721180716.86347/Python-3.6.6/Lib/xml/parsers/expat.py",
line 4, in <module>
    from pyexpat import * ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pyexpat' make: *** [install] Error 1

BUILD FAILED (OS X 10.13.6 using python-build 20180424)

Inspect or clean up the working tree at
/var/folders/6y/kf699bqj2sgcgjshb20fr5zh0000gn/T/python-build.20180721180716.86347
Results logged to /var/folders/6y/kf699bqj2sgcgjsh

I've followed the steps mentioned in the docs for setting-up PyEnv on Mac via Homebrew.

---

Environment / Framework versions

• MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6
• Homebrew 1.7.1
• PyEnv 1.2.6
• Existing Python distributions
  • Python 2.7.15 [GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 9.0.0 (clang-900.0.39.2)] on darwin
  • Python 3.7.0 [Clang 9.0.0 (clang-900.0.39.2)] on darwin

Solution 1

I had this problem with Mojave and Python 3.7.3.

This worked for me:

SDKROOT=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.14.sdk MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.14 pyenv install 3.7.3

Solution 2

The only way I could get it working is through the below prefixes before installing

CFLAGS="-I$(brew --prefix readline)/include -I$(brew --prefix openssl)/include 
-I$(xcrun --show-sdk-path)/usr/include" \
LDFLAGS="-L$(brew --prefix readline)/lib -L$(brew --prefix openssl)/lib" \
PYTHON_CONFIGURE_OPTS=--enable-unicode=ucs2 \
pyenv install -v 3.7.1

Solution 3

I'm posting my solution for those who are trying to resolve this issue in 2021. I am using macOS Big Sur Version 11.5.1. For me, this worked:

1. Uninstall the old tools

   $ sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

2. Reinstall Xcode Command line tools

   $ xcode-select --install

3. Install python using pyenv

   $ pyenv install 3.9.5

Solution 4

The accepted answer didn't work for me (Mojave) but this did:

sudo installer -pkg /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Packages/macOS_SDK_headers_for_macOS_10.14.pkg -target /

Credit to http://www.blog.howechen.com/macos-mojave-pyenv-install-multi-version-build-failed-solution/

Solution 5

I was able to get away with above error by referring to Common build problems

• brew install readline xz
• xcode-select --install
• brew install openssl

---

After this, I installed and initialized pyenv

• brew install pyenv
• pyenv init (inside your project directory)

---

Finally install and activate required python version

• pyenv install 3.6.6
• pyenv local 3.6.6 (inside your project directory)

---

Here's the link to original thread #1188 on GitHub by @Harry Moreno

View more solutions

Comments

[brandonscript]

Might work, but that's super destructive, and probably cause you even more problems in the end...

[Vadim]

in my case it doesn't work, the error remains the same

[R Claven]

This works if you have the LATEST version of XCode AND if you have "agreed" to the new license!

[wjwwood]

I suppose that might work, but is that a good idea? Doesn't this prevent you from using different SDK versions at different times? Presumably Apple changed this for a reason...

[psuzzi]

Also in my case did not work, but Srinivas Gowda solution did. Anyway, the link to the thread is useful.

[osprey]

Works. Hopefully it doesn't break other things.

[Vladimir Jovanović]

This is the only option that worked for me, but be cautious - after you perform this step, you need to recreate include dir and then reinstall everything from start with brew. Thanks @Tomer, this saved me from complete OS reinstall!

[NeilG]

This is a known requirement for Mojave as described here github.com/pyenv/pyenv/wiki/Common-build-problems which I routinely completed during initial installation but still got the same error

[Matt Browne]

Works for Python 3.6.6 too. Thank you!

[Kjell Hedström]

Worked great on Mojave 10.14.5. The other answers did not work.

[Tachikoma]

Worked great on macOS Mojave 10.14.6

[WhooNo]

Unfortunately, not working for me on Mojave with Python 3.7.3 or 3.5.2

[Noble Polygon]

This worked to help me get the AWS ebs cli installed if you get this on Mac OS catalina

[Srikanth]

Worked for me on macOS Catalina (10.15.3) with Python 3.7.3

[Tony M]

I tried this and it didn't work. The brew upgrade part worked fine (took a while) but then pyenv install 3.7.4 gave BUILD FAILED (OS X 11.1 using python-build 20180424) Inspect or clean up the working tree at /var/folders/m8...

[Bendemann]

Anybody cares to explain what this does to newbies :)?

[Marcel Wilson]

Is there some way to setup the environment so we dont have to include SDKROOT and MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET every time?

[Brian Garr]

I tried every one of these on my M1 chip Mini, and none of them worked.

[Brian Garr]

further, I don't have a Packages folder under CommandLineTools

[Moshe]

The --patch is the only thing that worked for me. Thanks.

[Nasir]

If you're copy-pasting the snippet above, make sure to remove the new line at the end of the first line which can break the compilation

[HamiltonPharmD]

I can confirm this worked for me in MacOS Big Sur Ver 11.5.2. I uninstalled pyenv prior to performing the above steps to be safe then reinstalled after step 2 above with: curl https://pyenv.run | bash

[Julian H]

This worked for me, thanks.

[Eric Aya]

This has already been mentioned in many other answers. When answering older questions that already have answers, please make sure you provide either a novel solution or a significantly better explanation than existing answers.

[StatsNoob]

This works on Big Sur 11.6.4 as well

[ScottWelker]

This worked for me, Monterey 12.3.1 with pyenv 3.9.6. I did not uninstall pyenv first.

[Steve Vermeulen]

In addition to these steps, I also had to run brew install openssl

[Mote Zart]

I get this: By default, distutils will build C++ extension modules with "clang++". With the error checking for clang++... no. But clang/clang++ are 100% already installed globally. Running the code in this answer above prompts me to install clang, which seemed promising. Maybe my pyenv couldn't find clang++? But DOH! Still failed pyenv install

[schroederadrian]

I was in the same situation of migrating and this was the only working solution.