Python 3.4 and 2.7: Cannot install numpy package for python 3.4

Question

I am using Ubuntu 12.04 and want to use python 3.4 side by side with python 2.7.

The installation of python 3.4 worked properly. However, I cannot install the numpy package for python 3 (and as a consequence I can't install scipy, pandas etc.).

Using

 sudo pip3 install numpy

spits out the following error:

File "numpy/core/setup.py", line 289, in check_types

"Cannot compile 'Python.h'. Perhaps you need to "\

SystemError: Cannot compile 'Python.h'. Perhaps you need to install python-dev|python-devel.

Btw, I already have python-dev installed.

Moreover, installing numpy via

 sudo apt-get install python-numpy

does not work either since I already installed numpy for python 2.7 and the installer responds that numpy is already up to date.

What can I do? Thanks!

Answer 1

You have not installed the Python 3 development package . Install python3.4-dev :

apt-get install python3.4-dev

The main package never includes the development headers; Debian (and by extension Ubuntu) package policy is to put those into a separate -dev package. To install numpy however, you need these files to be able to compile the extension.

Answer 2

Solved by incrementing the python-dev package until I hit the right one. May need to be incremented further in the future. Poor implementation by python developers.

sudo apt-get install python3.7-dev