install pil on virtualenv with libjpeg

Question

Currently I'm installing PIL into my virtual env as follows:

pip install -E . -r ./releases/%s/requirements.txt

where requirements.txt contains:

pil

I can upload png images but not jpeg images currently. From reading on the web it seems i may need libjpeg decoder? Am i installing pil incorrectly? What is the proper way to install pil for django in a virtual env with libjpeg?

Answer 1

You should install the libraries that others recommended but most importantly you should tell PIL where to find them. Edit the setup.py so that

    JPEG_ROOT = None 

becomes

JPEG_ROOT = libinclude("/usr/lib") 

I found that the easiest way was to download the source with pip but not install:

 pip install --no-install PIL

edit the setup (inside the build directory of the virtual environment) and the install

 pip install PIL

you can find some more information in my blog

You can also try pillow which seems to do great job with little hassle (pip install pillow)