How to properly install wxPython?

python windows download wxpython
oisinvg picture oisinvg · Aug 29, 2015 · Viewed 60.7k times · Source

So I was looking around at different things to do on Python, like code for flashing text or a timer, but when I copied them into my window, there were constant syntax errors. Now, maybe you're not meant to copy them straight in, but one error I got was 'no module named wx'. I learned that I could get that module by installing wxPython. Problem is, I've tried all 4 options and none of them have worked for me. Which one do I download and how do I set it up using Windows?

Thanks

Answer

Kyle Strand picture Kyle Strand · May 12, 2017

It's on PyPI. As of wxPython 4, Python 3 is supported.

Unfortunately, PyPI has a package called wx that is stuck at version 3.0.3; be sure to install the package named wxpython instead. 

pip install wxpython

Please note that pip will automatically build wxWidgets for you, but it will not install wxWidgets system dependencies such as GTK and OpenGLu. If the above command exits with an error, look above for a message like this:

checking for <something>... not found
checking for <something>... no
configure: error: <prereq> libraries not available
Error running configure
ERROR: failed building widgets

This should give you information about at least one of the packages your system is missing.

The "official" list of prerequisites from the wxWidgets source is:

  • dpkg-dev
  • build-essential
  • libjpeg-dev
  • libtiff-dev
  • libsdl1.2-dev
  • libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev # or 1.0 if available
  • libnotify-dev
  • freeglut3
  • freeglut3-dev
  • libsm-dev
  • libgtk-3-dev
  • libwebkitgtk-3.0-dev # or libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev if available
  • libxtst-dev

The actual package names provided by your package manager may not match these exactly, and to be honest, I don't really know the best way to query a package manager to determine what packages provide the libraries you need.

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