numpy build fail in M1 Big sur 11.1

Question

I am using MacBook m1 which is running Big Sur 11.1 ,and I have installed Xcode-commandline-tools version 12.3 and it has installed python3.8.5 and pip3 .python3 and pip are native apps,that is they run in ARM

pip3 version 20.3.3

python3 version 3.8.5

setuptools version 51.0.0

wheel version 0.36.2

when I type python3 -m pip install numpy

The output is :

Defaulting to user installation because normal site-packages is not writeable
Collecting numpy
  Using cached numpy-1.19.4.zip (7.3 MB)
  Installing build dependencies: started
  Installing build dependencies: finished with status 'done'
  Getting requirements to build wheel: started
  Getting requirements to build wheel: finished with status 'done'
    Preparing wheel metadata: started
    Preparing wheel metadata: finished with status 'done'
Building wheels for collected packages: numpy
  Building wheel for numpy (PEP 517): started
sandeep@Sandeeps-Air ~ % cat a
Defaulting to user installation because normal site-packages is not writeable
Collecting numpy
  Using cached numpy-1.19.4.zip (7.3 MB)
  Installing build dependencies: started
  Installing build dependencies: finished with status 'done'
  Getting requirements to build wheel: started
  Getting requirements to build wheel: finished with status 'done'
    Preparing wheel metadata: started
    Preparing wheel metadata: finished with status 'done'
Building wheels for collected packages: numpy
  Building wheel for numpy (PEP 517): started
  Building wheel for numpy (PEP 517): finished with status 'error'
Failed to build numpy

and with a very large list of errors

Is numpy still not supported in M1 or am I doing it wrong ?

Answer 1

I had exactly the same issue with my brand new Mac Mini. After spending an afternoon reading this issue on github, I finally succeeded. However, it only seems to work with v1.20.0rc2 or above...

Long story short, these were the steps I've taken to get it working:

pip3 install Cython
git clone https://github.com/numpy/numpy.git 
cd numpy
pip3 install . --no-binary :all: --no-use-pep517

After that, I could cd into my virtualenv and import numpy:

>>> import numpy as np
>>> np.__version__
'1.21.0.dev0+402.gc4ae3ce64'
>>> 

Next up: pandas.

UPDATE: After some more searching, I found this interesting article, which states that you can easily start Terminal in Rosatta mode. That also solved the issues.

However, I am working with a headless Mac Mini, so I still have to find out whether that solution also is feasable in that particular setup.

UPDATE 2

I now have pandas working as well, thanks to this answer on SO.

Answer 2

Yes, numpy still seems to be not supported in stable, but if you are ready to work with unstable version try this command:

pip3 install numpy --compile --pre

This will recompile all the necessary code from unstable branch.

Worked for me.

Answer 3

Since NumPy 1.21.0, it has released universal2 wheels for Python 3.8 and Python 3.9 on Mac. It becomes installable on Mac M1.

I have tested it on my M1 with Python 3.9.2, macOS Big Sur (11.5.1), and pip 21.1.3. Just use pip/pip3 to install it.

release note: https://github.com/numpy/numpy/releases/tag/v1.21.0