[Python] Trouble installing pycairo. Any suggestions on what to try next?

I have been trying to install pycairo for three days and I was wondering whether anyone could reproduce the error or if I am slowly starting to turn mad.

What I have tried:

I looked at the answers from Installation of PyCairo on Windows and How do you install PyCairo (Cairo for Python) on Windows?.

I tried installing pycairo using a file downloaded from Python Extension Packages for Windows but it says ERROR: pycairo-1.19.1-cp38-cp38-win32.whl is not a supported wheel on this platform. I used the following command pip install "C:\Users\...\Downloads\pycairo-1.19.1-cp38-cp38-win32.whl"

I tried installing pycairo via pip pip install pycairo which gives me a really long error message:

Collecting pycairo
Using cached pycairo-1.19.1.tar.gz (205 kB)
Installing collected packages: pycairo
Running setup.py install for pycairo ... error
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
command: 'c:\users\caspa\appdata\local\programs\python\python37-32\python.exe' -u -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\caspa\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-tjiuwot4\\pycairo\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\caspa\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-tjiuwot4\\pycairo\\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\caspa\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-pbvjvlu1\install-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --compile --install-headers 'c:\users\caspa\appdata\local\programs\python\python37-32\Include\pycairo'
cwd: C:\Users\caspa\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-tjiuwot4\pycairo\
Complete output (18 lines):
running install
running build
running build_py
creating build
creating build\lib.win32-3.7
creating build\lib.win32-3.7\cairo
copying cairo\__init__.py -> build\lib.win32-3.7\cairo
copying cairo\__init__.pyi -> build\lib.win32-3.7\cairo
copying cairo\py.typed -> build\lib.win32-3.7\cairo
running build_ext
building 'cairo._cairo' extension
creating build\temp.win32-3.7
creating build\temp.win32-3.7\Release
creating build\temp.win32-3.7\Release\cairo
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.24.28314\bin\HostX86\x86\cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /W3 /GL /DNDEBUG /MT -DPYCAIRO_VERSION_MAJOR=1 -DPYCAIRO_VERSION_MINOR=19 -DPYCAIRO_VERSION_MICRO=1 -Ic:\users\caspa\appdata\local\programs\python\python37-32\include -Ic:\users\caspa\appdata\local\programs\python\python37-32\include "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.24.28314\ATLMFC\include" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.24.28314\include" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\NETFXSDK\4.7.2\include\um" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.18362.0\ucrt" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.18362.0\shared" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.18362.0\um" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.18362.0\winrt" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.18362.0\cppwinrt" /Tccairo/device.c /Fobuild\temp.win32-3.7\Release\cairo/device.obj
device.c
C:\Users\caspa\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-tjiuwot4\pycairo\cairo\pycairo.h(37): fatal error C1083: Datei (Include) kann nicht ge”ffnet werden: "cairo.h": No such file or directory
error: command 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.24.28314\\bin\\HostX86\\x86\\cl.exe' failed with exit status 2
----------------------------------------
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: 'c:\users\caspa\appdata\local\programs\python\python37-32\python.exe' -u -c 'import sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\\Users\\caspa\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-tjiuwot4\\pycairo\\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\\Users\\caspa\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\pip-install-tjiuwot4\\pycairo\\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\caspa\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-record-pbvjvlu1\install-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --compile --install-headers 'c:\users\caspa\appdata\local\programs\python\python37-32\Include\pycairo' Check the logs for full command output.


I get the same error message when trying to install PyGoject, which contains pycairo, via pip.

I found something that should be supposed to fix the error, but unfortunately the link in the forum is dead. I went to the official download page (I believe) cairographics.org and its a dead link as well.

Another thing I tried: I went to the Cairo Docs on getting started, but it's unfortunately only for Ubuntu/Linux/IOS.

Continue reading...