backports/lzma/_lzmamodule.c(115) : fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'lzma.h': No such file or directory

[cirmic]

I have a Windows 7 PC with Visual Studio 2015 upgrade 3 installed on it and I would like to install backports.lzma library for Python with pip.

I have downloaded and extracted XZ Utils in Program Files folder. (XZ Utils is mandatory for install backports library as specified from Pypi site )

This is the pip output:

Installing collected packages: backports.lzma
Running setup.py install for backports.lzma: started
Running setup.py install for backports.lzma: finished with status 'error'
Complete output from command "C:\Program Files (x86)\Python27\python.exe" -u -c "import setuptools, tokenize;file='c:\users\myuser\appdata\local\temp\pip-build-smbn4k\backports.lzma\setup.py';f=getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(file);code=f.read().replace('\r\n', '\n');f.close();exec(compile(code, file, 'exec'))" install --record c:\users\myuser\appdata\local\temp\pip-hfgg8w-record\install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile:
This is backports.lzma version 0.0.8
running install
running build
running build_py
creating build
creating build\lib.win32-2.7
creating build\lib.win32-2.7\backports
copying backports_init_.py -> build\lib.win32-2.7\backports
creating build\lib.win32-2.7\backports\lzma
copying backports\lzma_init_.py -> build\lib.win32-2.7\backports\lzma
running build_ext
building 'backports/lzma/_lzma' extension
creating build\temp.win32-2.7
creating build\temp.win32-2.7\Release
creating build\temp.win32-2.7\Release\backports
creating build\temp.win32-2.7\Release\backports\lzma
C:\Users\myuser\AppData\Local\Programs\Common\Microsoft\Visual C++ for Python\9.0\VC\Bin\cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /MD /W3 /GS- /DNDEBUG "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Python27\include" -IC:\Users\myuser\include -I/opt/local/include -I/usr/local/include "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Python27\include" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Python27\PC" /Tcbackports/lzma/_lzmamodule.c /Fobuild\temp.win32-2.7\Release\backports/lzma/_lzmamodule.obj
_lzmamodule.c
backports/lzma/_lzmamodule.c(32) : warning C4273: 'PyErr_NewExceptionWithDoc' : inconsistent dll linkage
C:\Program Files (x86)\Python27\include\pyerrors.h(226) : see previous definition of 'PyErr_NewExceptionWithDoc'
backports/lzma/_lzmamodule.c(115) : fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'lzma.h': No such file or directory
error: command 'C:\Users\myuser\AppData\Local\Programs\Common\Microsoft\Visual C++ for Python\9.0\VC\Bin\cl.exe' failed with exit status 2

---

Failed building wheel for backports.lzma
Command ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Python27\python.exe" -u -c "import setuptools, tokenize;file='c:\users\myuser\appdata\local\temp\pip-build-smbn4k\backports.lzma\setup.py';f=getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(file);code=f.read().replace('\r\n', '\n');f.close();exec(compile(code, file, 'exec'))" install --record c:\users\myuser\appdata\local\temp\pip-hfgg8w-record\install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile" failed with error code 1 in c:\users\myuser\appdata\local\temp\pip-build-smbn4k\backports.lzma
'backports.lzma' failed to install. Exit code: 1

However in Program Files\xz\include there is the lzma.h file.
How to link the header to be recognized?

[peterjc]

I do not currently have access to a Windows development machine to try this on.

However, in somewhat lucky timing, yesterday and today I have been experimenting with AppVeyor, and while I'm currently stuck I know how to solve the current issue.

By default the setup.py will look for lzma.h under $HOME/include/lzma.h so the simple answer is put this under your home folder rather than under "Program Files". Since there are no explicit recommendations on where to unzip that folder, this is a sensible option you'll certainly have write permissions here.

Assuming you didn't compile liblzma yourself, you will likely also need to move the DLLs from the platform specific files to $HOME/lib/ instead, i.e. for 32-bit:

cp C:/Users/YOURNAME/bin_i686/liblzma.* C:/Users/YOURNAME/lib/"

Or for 64 bit:

cp C:/Users/YOURNAME/bin_x86-64/liblzma.* C:/Users/YOURNAME/lib/"

At this point I began to run into trouble with linking, and am currently stuck.

See https://ci.appveyor.com/project/peterjc/backports-lzma/build/ and my AppVeyor configuration file on this branch https://github.com/peterjc/backports.lzma/blob/appveyor/.appveyor.yml

Over on #14 it was reported that backports.lzma could be compiled on Windows using a self-compiled liblzma.

[jakirkham]

There is an AppVeyor build proposed in PR ( #25 ).

[fireattack]

This is still an issue. I tried to place lzma.h to $HOME/include/ (C:\users\[username]\include), but now it starts to show another error:

LINK : fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file 'liblzma.lib'

I have no idea where to get this liblzma.lib, but I guess that's what you mentioned before about 'trouble with linking'.

Is there any other way to install it on Windows? The wheel version in #14 (0.0.3) seems to work, but very outdated.

[peterjc]

You can use conda, the conda-forge packages include Windows builds and cover Python 2.7, 3.5 and 3.6 at the time of writing: https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/backports.lzma

[cgohlke]

Is there any other way to install it on Windows? The wheel version in #14 (0.0.3) seems to work, but very outdated.

Up-to-date wheels for Python 2.7, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, and 3.7 are at https://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#backports.lzma

[fireattack]

Thank you!

[peterjc]

I think I've said this in other contexts, but once again, thank you @cgohlke for your efforts supporting Python on Windows 🥇

If you have no objection, I would be happy to add a link to these wheels from the README file

[peterjc]

I'm about to archive this repository, and so am closing the outstanding issues and pull requests. Thank you for your efforts though.