Why do I get an error message related to building wheels while installing a package?

Question

I'm trying to install a package (in my case guidedlda), but the installation is not working. I entered pip install guidedlda, but I got the following error message

pip install guidedlda

Collecting guidedlda
  Using cached guidedlda-2.0.0.dev22.tar.gz (2.1 MB)
  Preparing metadata (setup.py) ... done
Requirement already satisfied: numpy in /usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages (from guidedlda) (1.23.5)
Building wheels for collected packages: guidedlda
  error: subprocess-exited-with-error

  × python setup.py bdist_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.
  Building wheel for guidedlda (setup.py) ... error
  ERROR: Failed building wheel for guidedlda
  Running setup.py clean for guidedlda
Failed to build guidedlda
ERROR: Could not build wheels for guidedlda, which is required to install pyproject.toml-based projects

I tried other ways to install the package but always got the same error message. I was also able to install other packages without any problems.

I use Google Colaboratory with Python 3.10.12.

Answer 1

This usually means that you’re using an unsupported version of Python for whatever package you are trying to install. Check what version that package supports and try to use that version of Python.

Answer 2

Looking at PyPI, the latest version of guidedlda 2.0.0.dev22 was released on 2017-10-27 and it supports only Python 3.4 - 3.6, but you are using Python 3.10.12.

The best bet is to use a lower version of Python supported by guidedlda, and I'll also encourage you to visit the link above and skim through it.