Question

27

How do I install python imaging library (PIL)?

rated 0 times [ 27] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 216053 / 2 Years ago, thu, may 5, 2022, 11:38:33

How do I install the python imaging library (PIL) on Ubuntu?

I tried doing

sudo apt-get install python-imaging

but now when i run
python selftest.py
(a script I got from somewhere on the http://pythonware.com/products/pil/ website)
I get (among other warning messages):

...

*** JPEG support not installed

*** ZLIB (PNG/ZIP) support not installed

...

*** 1 tests of 57 failed.

Have I somehow messed up the PIL -- how do I fix that?

Is maybe the PIL just fine, but that "selftest.py" is not really the right program for checking to see if PIL is installed properly -- how else can I tell if PIL is installed properly or not?

(I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin").

(What I'm ultimately trying to do is to add a 2D barcode generator to some python code,
and all the 2D barcode generators I could find that were written in python all seemed to use the PIL).

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

olltea

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 238

Total Questions: 115

Total Answers: 107

Location: Moldova

Member since Tue, Feb 7, 2023

1 Year ago

answered 2 Years ago losbu · Accepted Answer

Something similar happened to me,
I solved this way

sudo apt-get install libjpeg libjpeg-dev libfreetype6 libfreetype6-dev zlib1g-dev

And try there installing via pip install PIL.

More on what pip is can be found here. In short is a convenient (and becoming a standard) way of installing python libraries.

if it continues to fail, it can be due to PIL searching those libraries in a different path.

It turns out that the APT installations put the libraries under /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu and PIL will search for them in /usr/lib/.
So you have to create symlinks for PIL to see them.

Try to see if libjpeg and libz libs exist in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu and make a symlink this way

sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 /lib/

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfreetype.so.6 /usr/lib/

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libjpeg.so.62 /usr/lib/

Source: http://jj.isgeek.net/2011/09/install-pil-with-jpeg-support-on-ubuntu-oneiric-64bits/