Problems while Installing xgboost on anaconda

Question

While installing xgboost from git (followed by "python setup.py install"), I get the console messages as shown below:-

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(C:\Users\MUSTHAFA-PC\Anaconda3) C:\Users\MUSTHAFA-PC\xgboost_install_dir\python-package>python setup.py install
Install libxgboost from: ['xgboost\\xgboost.dll']
running install
running bdist_egg
running egg_info
writing xgboost.egg-info\PKG-INFO
writing requirements to xgboost.egg-info\requires.txt
writing dependency_links to xgboost.egg-info\dependency_links.txt
writing top-level names to xgboost.egg-info\top_level.txt
reading manifest file 'xgboost.egg-info\SOURCES.txt'
reading manifest template 'MANIFEST.in'
*warning: no files found matching '*' under directory 'xgboost\include'
warning: no files found matching '*' under directory 'xgboost\src'
warning: no files found matching '*' under directory 'xgboost\make'
warning: no files found matching '*' under directory 'xgboost\rabit'
warning: no files found matching '*' under directory 'xgboost\lib'
warning: no files found matching '*' under directory 'xgboost\dmlc-core'
warning: no previously-included files matching '*.o' found anywhere in distribution
warning: no previously-included files matching '*.a' found anywhere in distribution
warning: no previously-included files matching '*.pyo' found anywhere in distribution
warning: no previously-included files matching '*.pyc' found anywhere in distribution*
writing manifest file 'xgboost.egg-info\SOURCES.txt'
installing library code to build\bdist.win-amd64\egg
running install_lib
running build_py
creating build\bdist.win-amd64\egg
creating build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\build-python.sh -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\callback.py -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\compat.py -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\core.py -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\libpath.py -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\plotting.py -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\rabit.py -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\sklearn.py -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\training.py -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\VERSION -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\xgboost.dll -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
copying build\lib\xgboost\__init__.py -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost
byte-compiling build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost\callback.py to callback.cpython-35.pyc
byte-compiling build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost\compat.py to compat.cpython-35.pyc
byte-compiling build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost\core.py to core.cpython-35.pyc
byte-compiling build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost\libpath.py to libpath.cpython-35.pyc
byte-compiling build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost\plotting.py to plotting.cpython-35.pyc
byte-compiling build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost\rabit.py to rabit.cpython-35.pyc
byte-compiling build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost\sklearn.py to sklearn.cpython-35.pyc
byte-compiling build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost\training.py to training.cpython-35.pyc
byte-compiling build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\xgboost\__init__.py to __init__.cpython-35.pyc
installing package data to build\bdist.win-amd64\egg
running install_data
creating build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\EGG-INFO
copying xgboost.egg-info\PKG-INFO -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\EGG-INFO
copying xgboost.egg-info\SOURCES.txt -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\EGG-INFO
copying xgboost.egg-info\dependency_links.txt -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\EGG-INFO
copying xgboost.egg-info\not-zip-safe -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\EGG-INFO
copying xgboost.egg-info\requires.txt -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\EGG-INFO
copying xgboost.egg-info\top_level.txt -> build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\EGG-INFO
writing build\bdist.win-amd64\egg\EGG-INFO\native_libs.txt
creating 'dist\xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg' and adding 'build\bdist.win-amd64\egg' to it
removing 'build\bdist.win-amd64\egg' (and everything under it)
Processing xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg
removing 'c:\users\musthafa-pc\anaconda3\lib\site-packages\xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg' (and everything under it)
creating c:\users\musthafa-pc\anaconda3\lib\site-packages\xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg
Extracting xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg to c:\users\musthafa-pc\anaconda3\lib\site-packages
xgboost 0.6 is already the active version in easy-install.pth

Installed c:\users\musthafa-pc\anaconda3\lib\site-packages\xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg
Processing dependencies for xgboost==0.6
Searching for scipy==0.19.1
Best match: scipy 0.19.1
Adding scipy 0.19.1 to easy-install.pth file

Using c:\users\musthafa-pc\anaconda3\lib\site-packages
Searching for numpy==1.13.1
Best match: numpy 1.13.1
Adding numpy 1.13.1 to easy-install.pth file

Using c:\users\musthafa-pc\anaconda3\lib\site-packages
Finished processing dependencies for xgboost==0.6

(C:\Users\MUSTHAFA-PC\Anaconda3) C:\Users\MUSTHAFA-PC\xgboost_install_dir\python-package>

==========

I am not aware of the criticality of those warning messages, but the process seems to have finished without error.

But when I try to import xgboost in jupyter notebook ("import xgboost"), error occurs with following trace messages:-

---

OSError                                   Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-1-e81c313a2b5e> in <module>()
      4 import numpy as np
      5 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
----> 6 import xgboost

C:\Users\MUSTHAFA-PC\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg\xgboost\__init__.py in <module>()
      9 import os
     10 
---> 11 from .core import DMatrix, Booster
     12 from .training import train, cv
     13 from . import rabit                   # noqa

C:\Users\MUSTHAFA-PC\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg\xgboost\core.py in <module>()
    113 
    114 # load the XGBoost library globally
--> 115 _LIB = _load_lib()
    116 
    117 

C:\Users\MUSTHAFA-PC\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg\xgboost\core.py in _load_lib()
    107     if len(lib_path) == 0:
    108         return None
--> 109     lib = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(lib_path[0])
    110     lib.XGBGetLastError.restype = ctypes.c_char_p
    111     return lib

C:\Users\MUSTHAFA-PC\Anaconda3\lib\ctypes\__init__.py in LoadLibrary(self, name)
    427 
    428     def LoadLibrary(self, name):
--> 429         return self._dlltype(name)
    430 
    431 cdll = LibraryLoader(CDLL)

C:\Users\MUSTHAFA-PC\Anaconda3\lib\ctypes\__init__.py in __init__(self, name, mode, handle, use_errno, use_last_error)
    349 
    350         if handle is None:
--> 351             self._handle = _dlopen(self._name, mode)
    352         else:
    353             self._handle = handle

OSError: [WinError 126] The specified module could not be found

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Apparently it is not able to import DMatrix, Booster as "the specified module could not be found".

Any idea how to rectify this? My python version is 3.5 while xgboost is 0.6

Answer 1

I've encountered the same problem because for some reason lib folder inside of my Anaconda installation had the first letter uppercase Lib and this was causing the issue. All I had to do was to change folder name to lib:

C:\Anaconda3\Lib\site-packages\xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg...

to

C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\xgboost-0.6-py3.5.egg...

this change didn't break anything and fixed module could not be found error.

Answer 2

Berfore you import xgboost, you need to add the path to the g++ runtime libraries to the os environment path variable. The following code works:

import os

mingw_path = 'C:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\bin'

os.environ['PATH'] = mingw_path + ';' + os.environ['PATH']

You can replace the path with your own directory.