Error: pg_config executable not found. though using psycopg2-binary

[allan-simon]

I have the following lines in my requirements.txt

psycopg2-binary

to avoid having to compile it, however when i run pip install I got the following error messages:

Downloading/unpacking psycopg2-binary (from -r requirements.txt (line 25))
  Running setup.py (path:/tmp/pip-build-1xk9772d/psycopg2-binary/setup.py) egg_info for package psycopg2-binary
    
    Error: pg_config executable not found.
    
    pg_config is required to build psycopg2 from source.  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'.
    If you prefer to avoid building psycopg2 from source, please install the PyPI
    'psycopg2-binary' package instead.
    For further information please check the 'doc/src/install.rst' file (also at
    <http://initd.org/psycopg/docs/install.html>).
    Complete output from command python setup.py egg_info:
    running egg_info
creating pip-egg-info/psycopg2_binary.egg-info
writing top-level names to pip-egg-info/psycopg2_binary.egg-info/top_level.txt
writing dependency_links to pip-egg-info/psycopg2_binary.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
writing pip-egg-info/psycopg2_binary.egg-info/PKG-INFO
writing manifest file 'pip-egg-info/psycopg2_binary.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'



Error: pg_config executable not found.


pg_config is required to build psycopg2 from source.  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'.

If you prefer to avoid building psycopg2 from source, please install the PyPI
'psycopg2-binary' package instead.

For further information please check the 'doc/src/install.rst' file (also at
<http://initd.org/psycopg/docs/install.html>).

----------------------------------------
Cleaning up...
Command python setup.py egg_info failed with error code 1 in /tmp/pip-build-1xk9772d/psycopg2-binary

[dvarrazzo]

Probably you are using an old version of pip or a platform that doesn't support manylinux (e.g. Linux Alpine).

[allan-simon]

i'm on debian jessie, I will check for the version of pip

[allan-simon]

indeed, upgrading pip fix the issue, thanks

[kitten77]

I am having the same problem
pip 18.1
12.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE r341666 GENERIC amd64
I solved this by doing a local install of
py36-psycopg2
and then
pip install psycopg2
Seems to have fix it for now

[hoylemd]

I ran into a similar problem, trying to install psycopg2 into a python:3.7-alpine container. I'm sure something could be done in the Dockerfile to install pg_config properly first, but I just switched by made image to python:3.7-slim and it worked. In my case it wasn't terribly important to use alpine as the base, but if someone else finds this and does need to use alpine, look into that. (that might be what @kitten77 was referring to, but I didn't check)

[tony-zebra]

Like @hoylemd I ran into this on a python:3.7-alpine container. I fixed it by installing postgresql-dev in my Dockerfile via apk add postgresql-dev (with thanks to this stackoverflow answer).

[yk2kus]

sudo apt-get install libpq-dev

https://tutorials.technology/solved_errors/9-Error-pg_config-executable-not-found.html

[HenrryVargas]

this is ok for me: sudo apt-get install libpq-dev

[allan-simon]

this is ok for me: sudo apt-get install libpq-dev

however it should not, as the goal of psycopg-binary is to avoid compilation and installing these headers, if we are to install these , then using psycopg (without binary) is certainly an option.

[Georg-coder]

for me, none of the above solutions worked. I use python 3.6.1 and pycharm on Mac