How do I install libsvm for python under windows 7?

Question

Would like to know how to install libsvm for python under windows 7?

I downloaded the livsvm zip, but I don\'t understand the instructions included. I have placed th

Answer 1

I had a bunch of problems with this too on Windows 7 and libsvm 3.18, and none of the solutions above worked. It just couldn't find or didn't like the ../windows/libsvm.dll file no matter what file path gymnastics I tried. I was also running into 32-bit vs. 64-bit incompatibilities (my python is 64 bit).

I bracing myself for the pain of trying to recompile from visual studio, but this ended up being unnecessary. What ended up working for me was simply installing scikit-learn, which has libsvm included and nicely wrapped inside (http://scikit-learn.org/stable/index.html).

If you're using the Anaconda distro, like I was, this is extremely painless. Simply type conda install scikit-learn at a command line.

You can then import sklearn.svm.libsvm as svm and call it like just like you would libsvm, if you wish to ignore the other aspects of scikit-learn. It just works.