[Python] installing mysqlclient with pip fails "subprocess-exited-with-error"

I'm using Linux Mint 22 and encountering an issue when trying to install mysqlclient with pip. The installation fails and returns the error "subprocess-exited-with-error' Below is the console output:

(env) sh-5.2$ pip install mysqlclient
Collecting mysqlclient
Using cached mysqlclient-2.2.6.tar.gz (91 kB)
Installing build dependencies ... done
Getting requirements to build wheel ... error
error: subprocess-exited-with-error

× Getting requirements to build wheel did not run successfully.
│ exit code: 1
╰─> [29 lines of output]
Trying pkg-config --exists mysqlclient
Command 'pkg-config --exists mysqlclient' returned non-zero exit status 1.
Trying pkg-config --exists mariadb
Command 'pkg-config --exists mariadb' returned non-zero exit status 1.
Trying pkg-config --exists libmariadb
Command 'pkg-config --exists libmariadb' returned non-zero exit status 1.
Trying pkg-config --exists perconaserverclient
Command 'pkg-config --exists perconaserverclient' returned non-zero exit status 1.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/usr/School/24-25/P2/project en samenwerken/Project/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 353, in <module>
main()
File "/home/usr/School/24-25/P2/project en samenwerken/Project/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 335, in main
json_out['return_val'] = hook(**hook_input['kwargs'])
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/home/usr/School/24-25/P2/project en samenwerken/Project/env/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 118, in get_requires_for_build_wheel
return hook(config_settings)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-2g4_q5k5/overlay/lib/python3.12/site-packages/setuptools/build_meta.py", line 334, in get_requires_for_build_wheel
return self._get_build_requires(config_settings, requirements=[])
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-2g4_q5k5/overlay/lib/python3.12/site-packages/setuptools/build_meta.py", line 304, in _get_build_requires
self.run_setup()
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-2g4_q5k5/overlay/lib/python3.12/site-packages/setuptools/build_meta.py", line 320, in run_setup
exec(code, locals())
File "<string>", line 155, in <module>
File "<string>", line 49, in get_config_posix
File "<string>", line 28, in find_package_name
Exception: Can not find valid pkg-config name.
Specify MYSQLCLIENT_CFLAGS and MYSQLCLIENT_LDFLAGS env vars manually
[end of output]

note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
error: subprocess-exited-with-error

× Getting requirements to build wheel did not run successfully.
│ exit code: 1
╰─> See above for output.

note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
(env) sh-5.2$


I followed advice from other posts and installed the necessary dependencies using the following command:

usr@usr-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get install python3-dev default-libmysqlclient-dev build-essential pkg-config mysql-server libffi-dev libssl-dev libmysqlclient-dev


output confirms that all packages are already installed:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
python3-dev is already the newest version (3.12.3-0ubuntu2).
default-libmysqlclient-dev is already the newest version (1.1.0build1).
build-essential is already the newest version (12.10ubuntu1).
pkg-config is already the newest version (1.8.1-2build1).
mysql-server is already the newest version (8.0.40-0ubuntu0.24.04.1).
libffi-dev is already the newest version (3.4.6-1build1).
libssl-dev is already the newest version (3.0.13-0ubuntu3.4).
libmysqlclient-dev is already the newest version (8.0.40-0ubuntu0.24.04.1).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.


Even after installing all dependencies the install still fails. The issue isn't with pip, i can install other packages just fine.

The solution in Mysqlclient cannot install via pip, cannot find pkg-config name in Ubuntu doesn't work for me. The solution in that question doesn't solve it since i have already installed the packages

pkg-config python3-dev default-libmysqlclient-dev build-essential


Trying to install with custom flags fails too.

usr@usr-laptop:~$ sudo find /usr/include -name "mysql.h"
/usr/include/mysql/mysql.h
usr@usr-laptop:~$ sudo find /usr/lib -name "libmysqlclient.so*"
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmysqlclient.so
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmysqlclient.so.21.2.40
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmysqlclient.so.21
usr@usr-laptop:~$


(env) sh-5.2$ MYSQLCLIENT_CFLAGS="-I/usr/include/mysql" MYSQLCLIENT_LDFLAGS="-L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -lmysqlclient" pip3 install mysqlc
lient


Output:

Collecting mysqlclient
Using cached mysqlclient-2.2.6.tar.gz (91 kB)
Installing build dependencies ... done
Getting requirements to build wheel ... done
Preparing metadata (pyproject.toml) ... done
Building wheels for collected packages: mysqlclient
Building wheel for mysqlclient (pyproject.toml) ... error
error: subprocess-exited-with-error

× Building wheel for mysqlclient (pyproject.toml) did not run successfully.
│ exit code: 1
╰─> [40 lines of output]
# Options for building extension module:
extra_compile_args: ['-I/usr/include/mysql', '-std=c99']
extra_link_args: ['-L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu', '-lmysqlclient']
define_macros: [('version_info', (2, 2, 6, 'final', 0)), ('__version__', '2.2.6')]
running bdist_wheel
running build
running build_py
creating build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb
copying src/MySQLdb/__init__.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb
copying src/MySQLdb/_exceptions.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb
copying src/MySQLdb/connections.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb
copying src/MySQLdb/converters.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb
copying src/MySQLdb/cursors.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb
copying src/MySQLdb/release.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb
copying src/MySQLdb/times.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb
creating build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb/constants
copying src/MySQLdb/constants/CLIENT.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb/constants
copying src/MySQLdb/constants/CR.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb/constants
copying src/MySQLdb/constants/ER.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb/constants
copying src/MySQLdb/constants/FIELD_TYPE.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb/constants
copying src/MySQLdb/constants/FLAG.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb/constants
copying src/MySQLdb/constants/__init__.py -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb/constants
running egg_info
writing src/mysqlclient.egg-info/PKG-INFO
writing dependency_links to src/mysqlclient.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
writing top-level names to src/mysqlclient.egg-info/top_level.txt
reading manifest file 'src/mysqlclient.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
reading manifest template 'MANIFEST.in'
adding license file 'LICENSE'
writing manifest file 'src/mysqlclient.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
copying src/MySQLdb/_mysql.c -> build/lib.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/MySQLdb
running build_ext
building 'MySQLdb._mysql' extension
creating build/temp.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/src/MySQLdb
x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-gcc -fno-strict-overflow -Wsign-compare -DNDEBUG -g -O3 -Wall -O2 -pipe -g -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3 -Wp,-D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong -grecord-gcc-switches -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -fstack-clash-protection -fcf-protection -fno-omit-frame-pointer -mno-omit-leaf-frame-pointer -O3 -O2 -pipe -g -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3 -Wp,-D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong -grecord-gcc-switches -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -fstack-clash-protection -fcf-protection -fno-omit-frame-pointer -mno-omit-leaf-frame-pointer -O3 -fPIC "-Dversion_info=(2, 2, 6, 'final', 0)" -D__version__=2.2.6 "-I/home/usr/School/24-25/P2/project en samenwerken/Project/env/include" -I/usr/include/python3.12 -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/python3.12 -c src/MySQLdb/_mysql.c -o build/temp.linux-x86_64-cpython-312/src/MySQLdb/_mysql.o -I/usr/include/mysql -std=c99
src/MySQLdb/_mysql.c:29:10: fatal error: mysql.h: No such file or directory
29 | #include "mysql.h"
| ^~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
error: command '/usr/bin/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-gcc' failed with exit code 1
[end of output]

note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
ERROR: Failed building wheel for mysqlclient
Failed to build mysqlclient
ERROR: ERROR: Failed to build installable wheels for some pyproject.toml based projects (mysqlclient)
(env) sh-5.2$

Continue reading...