Need help installing PIL to use Django ImageField

Question

I am a novice at these things. I have been all over the internet looking for a way to get around this error :

unable to execute gcc-4.2: No such file or directory
error: command 'gcc-4.2' failed with exit status 1

When trying to install the Python Image Library, I get this error each time I run :

python setup.py install

I have tried a number of solutions given on this site and others across the web and no luck.

I have tried installing PIL with Macports which seemed to work but when I ran syncdb on my Django models it told me to install PIL.

Kind of lost at the moment. Is there anyone who has a tested, fool-proof way to get around this problem?

Answer 1

In my experience PIL is a nightmare to build and install unless you are using pip. Try creating a virtualenv and then installing PIL inside it with:

pip install PIL

I have PIL running fine on Snow Leopard with Python 2.7 out of MacPorts with this technique.

If you have trouble getting virtualenv up and running, I suggest virtualenv-burrito, which will set everything up for you automatically.