Error Command “gcc” Failed With Exit Status 1

“There is one prone error that you might encounter when compiling python packages. The “Error command “gcc” failed with exit status 1” error is caused when attempting to compile Python packages and the required packages.

In this tutorial, we will look at the cause of this error and provide possible solutions to resolve it.”

Cause of “Error Command “gcc” Failed With Exit Status 1”

This type of error occurs when you attempt to compile and install the python library that depends on a C compiler.

If Python cannot find GCC and other required build libraries, it will throw the “Error command “GCC” failed with exit status 1” error.

An example of this error is shown below:

From the example output above, we can see that the error is caused by Python.h header file. The python.h header file is part of the python development package.

Fix 1: Install GCC Compiler

One of the possible ways to fix the error is to ensure to install the latest GCC compiler is installed on your system.

You can do this by running the command:

Debian

REHL\Fedora\CentOS

Arch\Manjaro

macOS

Fix 2: Install Build Essentials & Build Dependencies

The next step you can take to fix this error is installing the build-essentials and build dependencies packages.

Build essentials refers to the packages used to compile packages, including GCC and G++ compilers.

We install these packages by running the command:

Debian

REHL\CentOS\Fedora

Arch\Manjaro

Fix 3: Install Python Dev Packages

The most common cause of this error is missing python development packages. Although they may come installed by default in some Linux distributions, you will need to install them manually.

You can install them by running them:

Debian

REHL\CentOS\Fedora

Arch\Manjaro 

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to fix the “error command “GCC” failed with exit status 1” in three main steps.

Thanks for reading!!