How to install psycopg2 with pg_config error?

I've tried to install psycopg2 (PostgreSQL Database adapater) from this site, but when I try to install after I cd into the package and write

python setup.py install 

I get the following error:

Please add the directory containing pg_config to the PATH

or specify the full executable path with the option:

python setup.py build_ext --pg-config /path/to/pg_config build ...

or with the pg_config option in 'setup.cfg'.

I've also tried 'sudo pip install psycopg2' and I got the same message.

After reading through the docs, it asks to look at the setup.cfg file (which is below):

[build_ext]
define=

# PSYCOPG_DISPLAY_SIZE enable display size calculation (a little slower)
# HAVE_PQFREEMEM should be defined on PostgreSQL >= 7.4
# PSYCOPG_DEBUG can be added to enable verbose debug information

# "pg_config" is required to locate PostgreSQL headers and libraries needed to
# build psycopg2. If pg_config is not in the path or is installed under a
# different name uncomment the following option and set it to the pg_config
# full path.
#pg_config=

# Set to 1 to use Python datetime objects for default date/time representation.
use_pydatetime=1

# If the build system does not find the mx.DateTime headers, try
# uncommenting the following line and setting its value to the right path.
#mx_include_dir=

# For Windows only:
# Set to 1 if the PostgreSQL library was built with OpenSSL.
# Required to link in OpenSSL libraries and dependencies.
have_ssl=0

# Statically link against the postgresql client library.
#static_libpq=1

# Add here eventual extra libraries required to link the module.
#libraries=

However, I'm not sure if I'm suppose to edit this file, since the documentation states the following:

then take a look at the setup.cfg file.

Some of the options available in setup.cfg are also available as command line arguments of the build_ext sub-command. For instance you can specify an alternate pg_config version using:

$ python setup.py build_ext --pg-config /path/to/pg_config build

Use python setup.py build_ext --help to get a list of the options supported.

I've gotten the list of options supported but I'm not sure where to go from there

Solution 1:

Debian/Ubuntu

Python 2

sudo apt install libpq-dev python-dev

Python 3

sudo apt install libpq-dev python3-dev

Additional

If none of the above solve your issue, try

sudo apt install build-essential
or

sudo apt install postgresql-server-dev-all

With pip

Install the psycopg2-binary PyPI package instead, it has Python wheels for Linux and Mac OS.

pip install psycopg2-binary

Solution 2:

I was getting this issue because I hadn't yet installed PostgreSQL on my machine yet. On mac just a simple brew install postgresql fixed the problem.