When using the pip install command in Python, you may see the following error:

Error: Subprocess-exited-with-error

Based on my study, this issue frequently happens when the pip fails to execute the package installation procedure.

Reasons for the Occurrence of Error: Subprocess-exited-with-error

The following are the most prevalent reasons for this error:

This article will assist you in determining what is causing the error and how to resolve it in practice.

This error can occur when a necessary build tool is missing from the PC.

For instance, the installation of srsly on my Windows PC produces the following results:

If you receive the same issue, you must install Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools, which you may get here.

After you’ve installed the utility, try pip install again to test whether it works.

If it fails, try updating pip, setup tools, and wheels:

Try reinstalling the package once you’ve upgraded these packages.

This error can occur if the package you’re attempting to install does not support the operating system you’re using.

For example, the text-to-speech TTS program does not support macOS on Apple Silicon chips, resulting in the following error:

TTS requires the mecab-python3 module, which currently does not support Apple M processors.

Luckily, brew can be used to install the package:

Once mecab has been installed, the TTS package may be successfully installed.

If you have a similar problem, you may be able to discover a comparable solution. Otherwise, the only method to repair this problem is to use a different operating system.

When you try to install some no longer supported packages on the newest version of Python, you may see this error.

You should go through the error message to check if you have anything like this:

In this instance, your only option is to reduce your Python version to one supported by the package. Most likely, the library authors require further time to support the most recent Python version.

You must use another Python version till then. You should be able to solve this problem via a virtual environment such as venv or conda.

This error may arise because the package requires extra actions to be completed in order to finish the installation procedure.

Here’s what happened when I tried to install pysqlite3:

After doing some research, I discovered that in order to be installed, this program must be connected to a SQLite database.

If I don’t want to manually link the package, I may install the binary package, which is statically linked to the latest SQLite version.

This time, the software is installed successfully. If your particular software includes the same exceptions, you should Google for further details.

Conclusions

When Python fails to properly run a subprocess, the error: subprocess-exited-with-error occurs. Pip most likely encountered an error while running the setup.py script.

To resolve this problem, ensure that the necessary build tools are installed, that the package supports the operating system you are using, and that the Python version you are using is supported.

I hope you found this guide useful. See you in the next article!