Error at Installation: Getting requirements to build wheel did not run successfully.

[gart1542]

Hi all, trying to install Firedrake for the first time on an M2 Pro Mac, Sonoma 14.5. I followed the installation instructions and had no issues up to this point. If there is any additional information needed please don't hesitate to ask, and thank you in advance.

Installing build dependencies ... done
Getting requirements to build wheel ... error
error: subprocess-exited-with-error

× Getting requirements to build wheel did not run successfully.
│ exit code: 1
╰─> [19 lines of output]
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Users/gart1542/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 389, in
main()
File "/Users/gart1542/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 373, in main
json_out["return_val"] = hook(**hook_input["kwargs"])
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/Users/gart1542/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 143, in get_requires_for_build_wheel
return hook(config_settings)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/private/var/folders/z0/cs5xg_js4g1g6xqbnmm7p5bc0000gn/T/pip-build-env-186ec0ko/overlay/lib/python3.12/site-packages/setuptools/build_meta.py", line 331, in get_requires_for_build_wheel
return self._get_build_requires(config_settings, requirements=[])
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/private/var/folders/z0/cs5xg_js4g1g6xqbnmm7p5bc0000gn/T/pip-build-env-186ec0ko/overlay/lib/python3.12/site-packages/setuptools/build_meta.py", line 301, in _get_build_requires
self.run_setup()
File "/private/var/folders/z0/cs5xg_js4g1g6xqbnmm7p5bc0000gn/T/pip-build-env-186ec0ko/overlay/lib/python3.12/site-packages/setuptools/build_meta.py", line 317, in run_setup
exec(code, locals())
File "", line 104, in
File "", line 41, in get_petsc_variables
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/private/var/folders/z0/cs5xg_js4g1g6xqbnmm7p5bc0000gn/T/pip-build-env-a_08uckx/normal/lib/python3.12/site-packages/petsc/lib/petsc/conf/petscvariables'
[end of output]

note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
error: subprocess-exited-with-error

× Getting requirements to build wheel did not run successfully.
│ exit code: 1
╰─> See above for output.

note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.

[connorjward]

I think the solution to your problem is described here: https://www.firedrakeproject.org/install.html#no-such-file-or-directory-tmp-petsc-conf-petscvariables

[connorjward]

Ah but this is now a different issue! You need to remove your existing PETSc installation (delete the petsc directory). You can see from the logs that the git clone instruction failed. Basically you are still using an older version of PETSc which is incompatible with the release of petsc4py.

[gart1542]

Thank you, that helped a lot! I was able to successfully run the install command, however now when I run firedrake-check I am met with this: (venv-firedrake) (base) garrettard@Garretts-MacBook-Pro ~ % firedrake-check
/Users/garrettard/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/h5py/init.py:36: UserWarning: h5py is running against HDF5 1.12.1 when it was built against 1.14.6, this may cause problems
_warn(("h5py is running against HDF5 {0} when it was built against {1}, "
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Users/garrettard/venv-firedrake/bin/firedrake-check", line 5, in
from firedrake._check import main
File "/Users/garrettard/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/firedrake/init.py", line 45, in
from firedrake.checkpointing import *
File "/Users/garrettard/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/firedrake/checkpointing.py", line 7, in
from firedrake.cython import hdf5interface as h5i
File "firedrake/cython/hdf5interface.pyx", line 2, in init firedrake.cython.hdf5interface
File "/Users/garrettard/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/h5py/init.py", line 45, in
from ._conv import register_converters as _register_converters,
File "h5py/_conv.pyx", line 1, in init h5py._conv
File "h5py/h5r.pyx", line 1, in init h5py.h5r
File "h5py/h5p.pyx", line 1, in init h5py.h5p
File "h5py/h5t.pyx", line 167, in init h5py.h5t
File "h5py/h5t.pyx", line 86, in h5py.h5t.lockid
File "h5py/h5t.pyx", line 55, in h5py.h5t.typewrap
ValueError: Not a datatype (not a datatype)

I went through this Missing symbols post install and then the install instructions again and had the same result.

[connorjward]

That issue is almost certainly due to caching problems. Did you run pip uninstall firedrake? I think you want pip uninstall -y firedrake; pip cache purge; <pip install firedrake command>

[gart1542]

I ran the pip uninstall -y h5py mpi4py petsc4py slepc4py and pip uninstall -y firedrake, and then pip cache purge. However I am still getting the same error:

(venv-firedrake) (base) garrettard@Garretts-MacBook-Pro ~ % firedrake-check
/Users/garrettard/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/h5py/init.py:36: UserWarning: h5py is running against HDF5 1.12.1 when it was built against 1.14.6, this may cause problems
_warn(("h5py is running against HDF5 {0} when it was built against {1}, "
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Users/garrettard/venv-firedrake/bin/firedrake-check", line 5, in
from firedrake._check import main
File "/Users/garrettard/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/firedrake/init.py", line 45, in
from firedrake.checkpointing import *
File "/Users/garrettard/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/firedrake/checkpointing.py", line 7, in
from firedrake.cython import hdf5interface as h5i
File "firedrake/cython/hdf5interface.pyx", line 2, in init firedrake.cython.hdf5interface
File "/Users/garrettard/venv-firedrake/lib/python3.12/site-packages/h5py/init.py", line 45, in
from ._conv import register_converters as _register_converters,
File "h5py/_conv.pyx", line 1, in init h5py._conv
File "h5py/h5r.pyx", line 1, in init h5py.h5r
File "h5py/h5p.pyx", line 1, in init h5py.h5p
File "h5py/h5t.pyx", line 167, in init h5py.h5t
File "h5py/h5t.pyx", line 86, in h5py.h5t.lockid
File "h5py/h5t.pyx", line 55, in h5py.h5t.typewrap
ValueError: Not a datatype (not a datatype)

[connorjward]

Sorry for not getting back to you on this.

I still think that this is extremely likely to be a pip cache issue. I would recommend:

1. Make sure that XCode and homebrew are up-to-date and that brew doctor raises no warnings
2. Run python3 -m pip cache purge
3. Reinstall both PETSc and Firedrake from scratch. Make sure to delete the venv and create a new one.