Installing psycopg2 into virtualenv when PostgreSQL is not installed on development system

Question

Is it possible to install psycopg2 into a virtualenv when PostgreSQL isn\'t installed on my development system—MacBook Pro with OS X 10.6?

When I run

Answer 1

Using the method you described in your April 12th update, I was able to install PostgreSQL(+1). Note that I originally was running Python 2.7.1 (32bit) and homebrew threw several errors and warnings regarding using a 32bit version of Python. I have since switched the 64/32 bit version of 2.7.1 and it works like a champ.

Regarding the pyscopg2, I was able to install it into my virtual environment from source by editing setup.cfg. I set pg_config to correct path inside homebrew's Cellar (pg_config=/usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.0.4/bin/pg_config). After saving the changes, I ran python setup.py install with zero issues. It's worth noting that I did not set the Mac's default python setting to 32 bit. I used the new 64 bit from start to finish.

After looking over some of the documentation, I think if I added homebrew's postgresql path to the system path I could have used pip to install it.

Reference:
http://favosdream.blogspot.com/2009/09/make-psycopg2-and-readline-work-in-snow.html

Update 6-8-2011:
While porting a project written on OS X to Windows 7, I found out that I had to install PostgreSQL on Windows as well. This ended up creating another user on my start up screen and other things that I just didn't like. While doing some digging I found Windows drivers for PostgreSQL here. I have since uninstalled the full PostgreSQL and installed the ODBC drivers which, thus far, work great.

To address the original question, after doing a bit more digging I think I found the equivalent ODBC for OS X here. I have not had a chance to try them out, but the concept works very well on Windows 7. I will update this when I get a chance to try them out. Until then, I hope this helps.