python - Installing h5py on an Ubuntu server

Question

I was installing h5py on an Ubuntu server. However it seems to return an error that h5py.h is not found. It gives the same error message when I install it using pip or the setup.py file. What am I missing here?

I have Numpy version 1.8.1, which higher than the required version of 1.6 or above.

The complete output is as follows:

van@Hulk:~/h5py-2.3.1? sudo python setup.py install
libhdf5.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
HDF5 autodetection failed; building for 1.8.4+
running install
running bdist_egg
running egg_info
writing h5py.egg-info/PKG-INFO
writing top-level names to h5py.egg-info/top_level.txt
writing dependency_links to h5py.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
reading manifest file 'h5py.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
reading manifest template 'MANIFEST.in'
warning: no files found matching '*.c' under directory 'win_include'
warning: no files found matching '*.h' under directory 'win_include'
writing manifest file 'h5py.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
installing library code to build/bdist.linux-x86_64/egg
running install_lib
running build_py
creating build
creating build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7
creating build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py
copying h5py/ipy_completer.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py
copying h5py/__init__.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py
copying h5py/version.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py
copying h5py/highlevel.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py
creating build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/group.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/files.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/selections.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/__init__.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/filters.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/base.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/dims.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/datatype.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/dataset.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/selections2.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
copying h5py/_hl/attrs.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/_hl
creating build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_selections.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_group.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_h5.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_attrs.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_objects.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_slicing.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_h5t.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_datatype.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/__init__.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_dimension_scales.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_base.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_dataset.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_file.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_h5p.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_attrs_data.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/common.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
copying h5py/tests/test_h5f.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/tests
running build_ext
skipping 'h5py/defs.c' Cython extension (up-to-date)
building 'h5py.defs' extension
creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.7
creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -DH5_USE_16_API -I/home/govinda/h5py-2.3.1/lzf -I/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/numpy/core/include -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c h5py/defs.c -o build/temp.linux-x86_64-2.7/h5py/defs.o
In file included from /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/numpy/core/include/numpy/ndarraytypes.h:1761:0,
                 from /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/numpy/core/include/numpy/ndarrayobject.h:17,
                 from /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/numpy/core/include/numpy/arrayobject.h:4,
                 from h5py/api_compat.h:26,
                 from h5py/defs.c:342:
/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/numpy/core/include/numpy/npy_1_7_deprecated_api.h:15:2: warning: #warning "Using deprecated NumPy API, disable it by " "#defining NPY_NO_DEPRECATED_API NPY_1_7_API_VERSION" [-Wcpp]
 #warning "Using deprecated NumPy API, disable it by " 
  ^
In file included from h5py/defs.c:342:0:
h5py/api_compat.h:27:18: fatal error: hdf5.h: No such file or directory
 #include "hdf5.h"
                  ^
compilation terminated.
error: command 'x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc' failed with exit status 1

Answer 1

You need to install libhdf5-dev to get the required header files. Just run

sudo apt-get install libhdf5-dev

and it should install it and its dependencies automatically.

Don't worry about the NumPy warning, it just means that the package developers are using an old version of the API, but everything will still work.