Installing gdal for Python 3.6
Heyo,
At Skyai, we are working a lot with Geographic Information Systems.
Just like the large majority of the market, we use GDAL and its Python bindings for that.
Even though we are ESRI partners, we still love our QGis and Python.
I recently changed laptop and got the latest Macbook, and had to reinstall the environement from scratch. And as much as I love Python, having to setup GDAL on my former laptop still give me nightmare so I was dreading this moment.
But actually, I have to admit that the process was much smoother than expected! I initially followed this guide for Python 2.7, without success.
Without further due, here are the steps.
Installing GDAL on Python 3.6
My setup
- Latest MacBook Pro (2017)
- Python 3.6 (but should work for others too)
- conda 4.5.4
Installing Conda
Simply follow the official guide.
Creating an environment with GDAL as a dependency
$ conda create --name gdal_test_working -c conda-forge python=3.6 gdal
Accept the request in your terminal :
Solving environment: done
## Package Plan ##
environment location: /Users/jlengrand/miniconda3/envs/gdal_test_working
added / updated specs:
- gdal
- python=3.6
The following packages will be downloaded:
package | build
---------------------------|-----------------
poppler-data-0.4.9 | 0 3.5 MB conda-forge
certifi-2018.4.16 | py36_0 142 KB conda-forge
libgdal-2.2.4 | 3 14.4 MB conda-forge
setuptools-39.2.0 | py36_0 550 KB conda-forge
------------------------------------------------------------
Total: 18.7 MB
The following NEW packages will be INSTALLED:
boost: 1.66.0-py36_1 conda-forge
boost-cpp: 1.66.0-1 conda-forge
bzip2: 1.0.6-1 conda-forge
ca-certificates: 2018.4.16-0 conda-forge
cairo: 1.14.10-0 conda-forge
certifi: 2018.4.16-py36_0 conda-forge
curl: 7.60.0-0 conda-forge
expat: 2.2.5-0 conda-forge
fontconfig: 2.12.6-0 conda-forge
freetype: 2.8.1-0 conda-forge
freexl: 1.0.5-0 conda-forge
gdal: 2.2.4-py36_0 conda-forge
geos: 3.6.2-1 conda-forge
geotiff: 1.4.2-1 conda-forge
gettext: 0.19.8.1-0 conda-forge
giflib: 5.1.4-0 conda-forge
glib: 2.55.0-0 conda-forge
hdf4: 4.2.13-0 conda-forge
hdf5: 1.10.1-2 conda-forge
icu: 58.2-0 conda-forge
jpeg: 9b-2 conda-forge
json-c: 0.12.1-0 conda-forge
kealib: 1.4.7-4 conda-forge
krb5: 1.14.6-0 conda-forge
libdap4: 3.18.3-2 conda-forge
libffi: 3.2.1-3 conda-forge
libgdal: 2.2.4-3 conda-forge
libgfortran: 3.0.1-h93005f0_2
libiconv: 1.15-0 conda-forge
libkml: 1.3.0-6 conda-forge
libnetcdf: 4.6.1-2 conda-forge
libopenblas: 0.2.20-hdc02c5d_4
libpng: 1.6.34-0 conda-forge
libpq: 9.6.3-0 conda-forge
libspatialite: 4.3.0a-19 conda-forge
libssh2: 1.8.0-2 conda-forge
libtiff: 4.0.9-0 conda-forge
libxml2: 2.9.8-0 conda-forge
ncurses: 5.9-10 conda-forge
numpy: 1.14.3-py36he6379a5_1
numpy-base: 1.14.3-py36h7ef55bc_1
openjpeg: 2.3.0-2 conda-forge
openssl: 1.0.2o-0 conda-forge
pcre: 8.41-1 conda-forge
pip: 9.0.3-py36_0 conda-forge
pixman: 0.34.0-2 conda-forge
poppler: 0.61.1-3 conda-forge
poppler-data: 0.4.9-0 conda-forge
proj4: 4.9.3-5 conda-forge
python: 3.6.5-1 conda-forge
readline: 7.0-0 conda-forge
setuptools: 39.2.0-py36_0 conda-forge
sqlite: 3.20.1-2 conda-forge
tk: 8.6.7-0 conda-forge
wheel: 0.31.0-py36_0 conda-forge
xerces-c: 3.2.0-0 conda-forge
xz: 5.2.3-0 conda-forge
zlib: 1.2.11-h470a237_3 conda-forge
Proceed ([y]/n)? y
Testing the installation
Activate your newly created environment, start python and try to import GDAL
$ conda activate gdal_test_working
(gdal_test_working) $ python
Python 3.6.5 | packaged by conda-forge | (default, Apr 6 2018, 13:44:09)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 6.1.0 (clang-602.0.53)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import gdal
>>> help(gdal)
Enjoy!
The secret
The magic secret is to make sure to use a single forge to install all your dependencies with conda.
In my case I used -c conda-forge.
This will ensure there are no possible conflicts between version.
More about the issue
The first thing I tried was to install without the forge option like this :
$ conda create --name gdal_test python=3.6 gdal
But when trying to import gdal, here is the issue I was getting:
$ conda activate gdal_test
(gdal_test) $ python
Python 3.6.5 | packaged by conda-forge | (default, Apr 6 2018, 13:44:09)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 6.1.0 (clang-602.0.53)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import gdal
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "/Users/jlengrand/miniconda3/envs/gdal_test/lib/python3.6/site-packages/gdal.py", line 2, in <module>
from osgeo.gdal import deprecation_warn
File "/Users/jlengrand/miniconda3/envs/gdal_test/lib/python3.6/site-packages/osgeo/__init__.py", line 21, in <module>
_gdal = swig_import_helper()
File "/Users/jlengrand/miniconda3/envs/gdal_test/lib/python3.6/site-packages/osgeo/__init__.py", line 17, in swig_import_helper
_mod = imp.load_module('_gdal', fp, pathname, description)
File "/Users/jlengrand/miniconda3/envs/gdal_test/lib/python3.6/imp.py", line 243, in load_module
return load_dynamic(name, filename, file)
File "/Users/jlengrand/miniconda3/envs/gdal_test/lib/python3.6/imp.py", line 343, in load_dynamic
return _load(spec)
ImportError: dlopen(/Users/jlengrand/miniconda3/envs/gdal_test/lib/python3.6/site-packages/osgeo/_gdal.cpython-36m-darwin.so, 2): Library not loaded: @rpath/libpoppler.71.dylib
Referenced from: /Users/jlengrand/miniconda3/envs/gdal_test/lib/libgdal.20.dylib
Reason: image not found
>>>
In the end the trick is pretty simple, but it took me a while to find out.
Hope it helps you too!
Now, back to coding
Cheers,
Julien