Ubuntu running `pip install` gives error ‘The following required packages can not be built: * freetype’

No. pip will not install system-level dependencies. This means pip will not install RPM(s) (Redhat based systems) or DEB(s) (Debian based systems).

To install system dependencies you will need to use one of the following methods depending on your system.

Ubuntu/Debian:

apt-get install libfreetype6-dev

To search for packages on Ubuntu/Debian based systems:

apt-cache search <string>

e.g:

apt-cache search freetype | grep dev

Redhat/CentOS/Fedora:

yum -y install freetype-devel

To search for packages on Redhat/CentOS/Fedora based systems:

yum search <string>

e.g:

yum search freetype | grep devel

Mac OS X: (via Homebrew)

brew install freetype

To search for packages on Mac OS X based systems:

brew search <string>

e.g:

brew search freetype

Leave a Comment