Python Pillow not installing under OSX

Question

I am trying to install the Python Pillow library and I am getting the following error:

ValueError: zlib is required unless explicitly disabled using --disable-zlib, aborting

I followed the thread to try to fix it: Fail during installation of Pillow (Python module) in Linux

The problem is that it seems to still not be able to find zlib, which I installed via homebrew.

I did a check to see if it was installed:

> brew search zlib
homebrew/dupes/zlib ✔                                        lzlib

I noticed it is in a different location than a standard brew install ("homebrew/dupes/zlib"). I tried to do an uninstall/reinstall and it puts it back in the same place ("homebrew/dupes/zlib"). The problem seems to be the installer/compiler just can't find it in that location.

My question is, Is there a way to either alias the lib path, point the installer to this lib location or clear it out completely from home-brew to re-install it clean just as zlib? What is the best route to take on this?

Thanks, RB

Answer 1

I figured out how to handle this. I had to set the following flag, via an environment variable, ahead of the pip install to make sure it used the correct zlib path when compiling pillow.

CFLAGS="-I/usr/local/opt/zlib/include" pip install pillow

This worked.

Answer 2

I had the same situation (Homebrew zlib in /usr/local/opt/zlib) but setting CFLAGS=… didn't fix the error.

xcode-select --install worked.