How can I install wxPython 3.0.1.1 in Python 2.7 virtualenv on Ubuntu 14.10?

Question

The following procedure fails. Am I missing something?

• Install various Ubuntu packages (prerequisites for compilation)
• Get http://downloads.sourceforge.net/wxpython/wxPython-src-3.0.1.1.tar.bz2
• Uncompress to wxPython-src-3.0.1.1/
• Create new virtualenv called test
• Activate test virtualenv

• In terminal, from wxPython-src-3.0.1.1/:

  ./configure --prefix=/home/username/.virtualenvs/test --with-gtk2 --enable-unicode --with-opengl
  #lots of output, confirms "Configured wxWidgets 3.0.1 for `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'"
  
  make install
  #lots of output, confirms:
  # The installation of wxWidgets is finished.  On certain
  # platforms (e.g. Linux) you'll now have to run ldconfig
  # if you installed a shared library and also modify the
  # LD_LIBRARY_PATH (or equivalent) environment variable.
  
  export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:~/.virtualenvs/test/lib
  # don't run ldconfig since that is a system tool, not appropriate for virtualenv?
  
  cd wxPython
  python setup.py install
  # lots of output, starting:
  # WARNING: WXWIN not set in environment. Assuming '..'
  # Found wx-config: /home/username/.virtualenvs/test/bin/wx-config
  #     Using flags:  --toolkit=gtk2 --unicode=yes --version=3.0
  # Preparing CORE...
  # Preparing STC...
  # Preparing GLCANVAS...
  # Preparing GIZMOS...
  # running install
  # etc
  

The final command fails with:

src/gtk/_core_wrap.cpp:20407:7: note: ‘arg3’ was declared here
   int arg3 ;
       ^
src/gtk/_core_wrap.cpp: In function ‘PyObject* _wrap_Image_SetAlphaBuffer(PyObject*, PyObject*, PyObject*)’:
src/gtk/_core_wrap.cpp:3747:13: warning: ‘arg3’ may be used uninitialized in this function [-Wmaybe-uninitialized]
             if (ALPHASIZE != self->GetWidth() * self->GetHeight()) {
             ^
src/gtk/_core_wrap.cpp:20474:7: note: ‘arg3’ was declared here
   int arg3 ;
       ^
cc1plus: some warnings being treated as errors
error: command 'x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc' failed with exit status 1

Answer 1

I used python setup.py install &> ~/error.txt to pass on the error messages to knowledgeable colleague who identified that C compilation was using the -Werror=format-security flag. This version of wxPython (and maybe others) cannot compile with that flag.

My $CPPFLAGS and $CFLAGS environment variables were empty. It turns out that this flag is triggered by hardening-wrapper.

So, I overrode the flag by invoking the final step as follows, and wxPython was installed successfully:

CFLAGS=-Wno-error=format-security CPPFLAGS=-Wno-error=format-security python setup.py install