I have Python on my Ubuntu system, but gcc can't find Python.h

Question

I am on a school computer, so I can\'t install anything.

I am trying to create C code which can be run in Python. It seems all the articles I am finding on it requi

Answer 1

It happens because Python.h is not located in the default include folder (which is /usr/include/ ).

Installing Python-dev might help:

$ sudo apt-get install python-dev 

But mostly the problem will persist because the development packages are made inside a separate folder inside the include folder itself ( /usr/include/python2.7 or python3).

So you should either specify the library folder using -I option in gcc or by creating soft-links to everything inside those folders to just outside (I'd prefer the former option).

Using -I option in gcc:

$ gcc -o hello -I /usr/include/python2.7 helloworld.c

Creating soft-links :

$ sudo ln -sv /usr/include/python2.7/* /usr/include/