"Could not run curl-config: [Errno 2] No such file or directory" when installing pycurl

Question

I'm trying to install pycurl via:

sudo pip install pycurl

It downloaded fine, but when when it runs setup.py I get the following traceback:

Downloading/unpacking pycurl
  Running setup.py egg_info for package pycurl
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<string>", line 16, in <module>
      File "/tmp/pip-build-root/pycurl/setup.py", line 563, in <module>
        ext = get_extension()
      File "/tmp/pip-build-root/pycurl/setup.py", line 368, in get_extension
        ext_config = ExtensionConfiguration()
      File "/tmp/pip-build-root/pycurl/setup.py", line 65, in __init__
        self.configure()
      File "/tmp/pip-build-root/pycurl/setup.py", line 100, in configure_unix
        raise ConfigurationError(msg)
    __main__.ConfigurationError: Could not run curl-config: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
    Complete output from command python setup.py egg_info:
    Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 16, in <module>
  File "/tmp/pip-build-root/pycurl/setup.py", line 563, in <module>
    ext = get_extension()
  File "/tmp/pip-build-root/pycurl/setup.py", line 368, in get_extension
    ext_config = ExtensionConfiguration()
  File "/tmp/pip-build-root/pycurl/setup.py", line 65, in __init__
    self.configure()
  File "/tmp/pip-build-root/pycurl/setup.py", line 100, in configure_unix
    raise ConfigurationError(msg)
__main__.ConfigurationError: Could not run curl-config: [Errno 2] No such file or directory

Any idea why this is happening and how to get around it

Solution 1

On Debian I needed the following packages to fix this

sudo apt install libcurl4-openssl-dev libssl-dev

Solution 2

Similarly with yum package manager

yum install libcurl-devel

If you use dnf, use

dnf install libcurl-devel

Solution 3

in my case this fixed the problem:

sudo apt-get install libssl-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev python-dev

as explained here

Solution 4

In Alpine linux you should do:

apk add curl-dev python3-dev libressl-dev

Solution 5

Same solution provided by @Michael Rice works for Ubuntu 18.04 as well

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

sudo apt install libcurl4-openssl-dev libssl-dev

Al thought it is mentioned in comments of Michael's answer but thought highlight for easy of use.

View more solutions

Comments

[sokhaty]

In my case python-devel was missing as well, so the following solved the issue for me: yum install libcurl-devel python-devel

[Skullone]

thanks for the python-dev package! i had this error without it : src/pycurl.h:4:20: fatal error: Python.h: No such file or directory

[ItayB]

apk add curl-dev was enough for me in docker python2.7-alpine image, thanks!

[MiroJanosik]

It was "yum install openssl-devel.x86_64 libcurl-devel.x86_64" for me on CentOS 8