Installing ibm_db package on Windows 7, 64-bit problem

[Chris Angelico]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 6:46 PM, Alexander Shmugliakov
<shmuglak at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello, has anybody successfully installed ibm_db package in the 32-bit Python 3.5.0 environment? This is the error messages I'm receiving:
> I know that the message about vcvarsall.bat is related to the Visual Studio configuration -- I don't have it on my computer. I have no 64-bit IBM Data Server Driver installed on my machine. Any help will be *greatly* appreciated.
>
> '--------------------------------------------------------------------------'
> C:\Program Files (x86)\Python 3.5>easy_install ibm_db
> Searching for ibm-db
> Reading https://pypi.python.org/simple/ibm_db/
> Best match: ibm-db 2.0.6
> Downloading https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/i/ibm_db/ibm_db-2.0.6.tar.gz#md5=f6b80e1489167a141ebf8978c37ca398
> Processing ibm_db-2.0.6.tar.gz
> Writing C:\Users\shmuglak\AppData\Local\Temp\easy_install-yijpttuo\ibm_db-2.0.6\setup.cfg
> Running ibm_db-2.0.6\setup.py -q bdist_egg --dist-dir C:\Users\shmuglak\AppData\Local\Temp\easy_install-yijpttuo\ibm_db-
> 2.0.6\egg-dist-tmp-np3lk_6i
> Detected 32-bit Python
> C:\Users\shmuglak\AppData\Local\Temp\easy_install-yijpttuo\ibm_db-2.0.6\setup.py:204: UserWarning: Detected usage of IBM
>  Data Server Driver package. Ensure you have downloaded 32-bit package of IBM_Data_Server_Driver and retry the ibm_db module install
>
>   warnings.warn(notifyString)
> warning: no files found matching 'README'
> warning: no files found matching '*' under directory 'clidriver'
> warning: no files found matching '*' under directory 'ibm_db_dlls'
> error: Setup script exited with error: Unable to find vcvarsall.bat

Hmm. I don't understand the warning there, but the final error is
pretty straight-forward: you cannot build a package from source
without having Visual Studio installed. Sadly, my usual go-to source
for Windows wheels doesn't have ibm_db:

http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/

but that's definitely the first place to look.

You basically have two choices:

1) Install the zero-dollar edition of Visual Studio 2015 (I think it's
available from https://www.visualstudio.com/ but I've never actually
used it, so don't depend on my advice), and build the extension from
source. You may find Steve Dower's blog helpful here:
http://stevedower.id.au/blog/building-for-python-3-5/

2) Find someone who has done the above, or is willing to do it for
you. Get him/her to build you a wheel file (.whl), which will then be
able to be installed on your computer without needing Visual Studio.

You may be able to contact the author(s) of the ibm_db package and ask
for a wheel. Or there might be someone here who'll do it for you. Be
aware, though, that you have to trust the wheel builder completely;
you'll be taking compiled binary code and installing it on your
computer. I'm sure most people in the world are trustworthy, but there
are those few who aren't... But you already know that, I have no
doubt.

Building it yourself is a lot more work, especially as a one-off, but
once you get yourself set up to build from source, you should be able
to build anything else you need without too much more effort.

All the best!

ChrisA