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I've followed these instructions, in order to install YouCompleteMe in Vim, but when I issue:

./install.py --clang-completer

The following error message comes up:

Searching Python 2.7 libraries...
ERROR: found static Python library (/usr/local/lib/python2.7/config/libpython2.7.a) but a dynamic one is required. You must use a Python compiled with the --enable-shared flag. If using pyenv, you need to run the command:
  export PYTHON_CONFIGURE_OPTS="--enable-shared"
before installing a Python version.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./install.py", line 44, in <module>
    Main()
  File "./install.py", line 33, in Main
    subprocess.check_call( [ python_binary, build_file ] + sys.argv[1:] )
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 540, in check_call
    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['/usr/local/bin/python', u'/home/anmol/.vim/bundle/YouCompleteMe/third_party/ycmd/build.py', '--clang-completer']' returned non-zero exit status 1

and now I'm stuck, what should I do?

Jair López
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anmol porwal
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2 Answers2

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I checked YouCompleteMe's build system and it uses a custom build script that uses the Python module distutils to find the paths to Python's library and include directories. Your /usr/local/ installation of Python is probably included in your PATH variable before the official /usr installation so just running python probably runs your custom installation, making distutils return its directories.

To check whether this is true, try running which python. I assume it will return something like /usr/local/bin/python.

At this point, I see several options (in order of preference).

  1. Try running YCM's install script by specifying which Python executable should run it explicitly: /usr/bin/python ./install.py --clang-completer

    If you use any additional completers with YCM, you should add the appropriate flags to the above line (e.g. --js-completer for JavaScript completion).

  2. Edit the script third_party/ycmd/build.py in YouCompleteMe's plugin directory to hardcode the paths for your custom Python installation. For instance, you could replace the existing FindPythonLibraries function with the following:

    def FindPythonLibraries():
    return ('/usr/lib/python2.7/config-x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython2.7.so',
            '/usr/include/python2.7')

    Note that this will make it harder to update YouCompleteMe since you'll have to ensure it doesn't get overwritten when you update its source.

  3. Replace your custom installation of Python with one built as a shared library. The details of this will depend on how you installed the existing Python installation in the first place. You can check whether you installed it through a package by using dpkg -S /usr/local/lib/python2.7/config/libpython2.7.a. This command will tell you which package installed that file, unless you installed it manually (bypassing the package manager).
  4. Remove your custom /usr/local Python installation while ensuring you have a Python from the official repositories installed (packages python2.7 and libpython2.7).

In the long run, you would probably be better off by using the official Python packages.

dkasak
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    First option worked for me also; I used the system-wide python rather than the pyenv installation. `/usr/bin/python ./install.py --js-completer --clang-completer` thanks! – JREAM Jun 29 '18 at 23:05
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    +1: still up-to-date answer for `pyenv` installs. Validity of: `/usr/bin/python ./install.py --js-completer --clang-completer` confirmed. As a side note also make sure that python module `requests` is on your box, otherwise the build will fail... – Cbhihe Oct 18 '19 at 08:23
  • @JREAM did the same but used `/usr/bin/python3` – Paschalis Sep 19 '20 at 17:03
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The plugin builds for me on the same operating system. The relevant line from the configuration looks like this:

Found PythonLibs: /usr/lib/python2.7/config-x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython2.7.so

The shared object can be identified as belonging to libpython2.7 package:

apt-file search /usr/lib/python2.7/config-x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython2.7.so
libpython2.7: /usr/lib/python2.7/config-x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython2.7.so

So I would check if you have the file named, if not try sudo apt install libpython2.7, and otherwise try moving away the static version, or let us know how you installed Python.

wrwrwr
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  • the required file was found and moving away the static version also didn't helped, the same error occurred again. I don't exactly remember how i installed python but most probably through command line. Is there any way of converting the static version to dynamic version ? – anmol porwal Oct 18 '16 at 15:53
  • You don't seem to have the standard setup that comes out-of-the box with Ubuntu as there would not be `/usr/local/lib/python2.7/config/` directory. So how about [reinstalling the whole Python](http://askubuntu.com/questions/426664/how-do-i-reinstall-python-on-my-ubuntu-12-04-server-using-apt-get)? (This has potential to break things though...) – wrwrwr Oct 18 '16 at 15:59
  • I have installed several other files related to python, after the 1st installation of python mainly as dependencies of other softwares, won't they get deleted if I reinstall python and also it does not guarantees to solve my problem. – anmol porwal Oct 18 '16 at 16:19
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    They will. For a safer alternative you could try to move away whole `/usr/local/lib/python2.7/config/`. Or figure a way how to [tell cmake which Python to use](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15291500/i-have-2-versions-of-python-installed-but-cmake-is-using-older-version-how-do). – wrwrwr Oct 18 '16 at 16:25
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    Another option, maybe you have a working installation of Python 3, so I'd also try: `python3 ./install.py --clang-completer` – wrwrwr Oct 18 '16 at 16:31
  • @anmolporwal, how did you install these other files related to Python? Using `pip` or something else? It's not a good idea to install things to system directories manually, so it's a good idea to either install Python libraries from the official repositories (if a package exists for the library you need) or running `pip --user` with your ordinary user instead of `pip` as root. – dkasak Oct 19 '16 at 11:28