ModuleNotFoundError: _libvips and cffi when importing pyvips

[H-skyfxxcker]

Hi,

I'm having trouble importing pyvips after installing it. I get the following error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/root/miniconda3/envs/valisv2/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pyvips/init.py", line 19, in
import _libvips
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_libvips'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 1, in
File "/root/miniconda3/envs/valisv2/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pyvips/init.py", line 48, in
from cffi import FFI
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'cffi'

Problem：
pyvips can't find the _libvips and cffi modules. It seems like the installation isn't linking to libvips and cffi correctly.

[jcupitt]

Hello, I wouldn't use miniconda. Instead, use the python and libvips that come with your dist, make a venv, and pip install pyvips into that. I see:

john@banana ~ $ python3 -m venv ~/vips
john@banana ~ $ . ~/vips/bin/activate
(vips) john@banana ~ $ pip install pyvips
Requirement already satisfied: pyvips in ./vips/lib/python3.12/site-packages (2.2.3)
Requirement already satisfied: cffi>=1.0.0 in ./vips/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from pyvips) (1.17.1)
Requirement already satisfied: pkgconfig in ./vips/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from pyvips) (1.5.5)
Requirement already satisfied: pycparser in ./vips/lib/python3.12/site-packages (from cffi>=1.0.0->pyvips) (2.22)
(vips) john@banana ~ $ python
Python 3.12.7 (main, Feb  4 2025, 14:46:03) [GCC 14.2.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import pyvips
>>> 

(~/vips is a prefix in my home directory that's on my PATH)

If you have to use miniconda, I'd guess your install has become a bit messed up. Wipe and reinstall your package area. The miniconda docs might have some helpful info.