OpenCV Python Scripts Mac "aborts"

Question

So I'm just trying to run the basic OpenCV program

    import numpy as np
    import cv2

    cap = cv2.VideoCapture(0)

    while(True):
        # Capture frame-by-frame
        ret, frame = cap.read()

        # Our operations on the frame come here
        gray = cv2.cvtColor(frame, cv2.COLOR_BGR2BGRA)

        # Display the resulting frame
        cv2.imshow('frame',frame)
        if cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == ord('q'):
            break

    # When everything done, release the capture
    cap.release()
    cv2.destroyAllWindows()

But for some reason when I try to run it (with python 2 or 3) I get this weird abort statement

    [1]    74309 abort      python3 index.py

(I'm guessing the 5 digit number is the PID) However, it does work if I pass in a path to an already existing video in the VideoCapture function. I am a beginner in all of this so I'm not really sure what the problem is

Thanks :)

Answer 1

I found the solution! I tried running the script using the default terminal that comes with mac and it worked :) So it seems there was some weird issue with the third party terminal (iTerm) I was using

Answer 2

You have to authorize iTerm to access the camera (in System Preferences). By default, neither Terminal nor iTerm has this permission. macOS Mojave just asks to allow iTerm and your Python program works fine! It's not a problem with iTerm, or maybe was a problem.

Answer 3

I had the same problem running OpenCV from VSCode. It turned out to be indeed permission error for accessing the camera on the new macOS. I couldn't get VSCode to ask for the permission (or add it manually through system preferences).

My solution was to run VSCode as root using

sudo /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/MacOS/Electron

It's not the cleanest solution, but it worked for me.