Unable to Install Sndfile with Amazon EC2 Instance due to unavailability

Question

I am trying to deploy a flask application that uses TensorFlow and Librosa. So as a dependency of Librosa I need the sndfile package.

When I run my Flask app I get this error:

import librosa
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/lib/

python3.7/site-packages/librosa/__init__.py", line 211, in <module>
    from . import core
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/librosa/core/__init__.py", line 6, in <module>
    from .audio import *  # pylint: disable=wildcard-import
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/librosa/core/audio.py", line 8, in <module>
    import soundfile as sf
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/soundfile.py", line 142, in <module>
    raise OSError('sndfile library not found')
OSError: sndfile library not found
[ec2-user@ip-172-31-90-51 CE_Ayush_Deployment]$ python3 app.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "app.py", line 2, in <module>
    from model_pipeline import Corona_Diagnoser
  File "/home/ec2-user/CE_Ayush_Deployment/model_pipeline.py", line 5, in <module>
    import librosa
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/librosa/__init__.py", line 211, in <module>
    from . import core
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/librosa/core/__init__.py", line 6, in <module>
    from .audio import *  # pylint: disable=wildcard-import
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/librosa/core/audio.py", line 8, in <module>
    import soundfile as sf
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/soundfile.py", line 142, in <module>
    raise OSError('sndfile library not found')
OSError: sndfile library not found

I tried:

sudo yum install autoconf autogen automake build-essential libasound2-dev \
   libflac-dev libogg-dev libtool libvorbis-dev libopus-dev libmp3lame-dev \
   libmpg123-dev pkg-config python

I then get this message:

Loaded plugins: extras_suggestions, langpacks, priorities, update-motd
No package build-essential available.
No package libasound2-dev available.
No package libflac-dev available.
No package libogg-dev available.
No package libvorbis-dev available.
No package libopus-dev available.
No package libmp3lame-dev available.
No package libmpg123-dev available.
No package pkg-config available.

I know the package is not available in the Amazon EC2 instance. Could anyone guide me on how to install the sndfile packages to the system?

Answer 1

Amazon Linux 2

I am on Amazon Linux 2, which you can verify by running the following on your EC2 server.

[ec2-user@fake-ip ~]$ cat /etc/system-release
Amazon Linux release 2 (Karoo)

The following packages are available from the Amazon package repository: libsndfile-devel, libsndfile-utils, libsndfile.

 [ec2-user@fakeip ~]$ yum search libsndfile
Loaded plugins: extras_suggestions, langpacks, priorities, update-motd
=============================================== N/S matched: libsndfile ================================================
libsndfile-devel.x86_64 : Development files for libsndfile
libsndfile-utils.x86_64 : Command Line Utilities for libsndfile
libsndfile.x86_64 : Library for reading and writing sound files
libsndfile.i686 : Library for reading and writing sound files

Amazon Linux AMI

According to Amazon Linux AMI package list, this earlier version of Amazon Linux does not have libsndfile. Although you can enable the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL), libsndfile does not appear to be there either.

[ec2-user@fakeip ~]$ cat /etc/system-release
Amazon Linux AMI release 2018.03
[ec2-user@fakeip ~]$ sudo yum-config-manager --enable epel
... skipping lots of output
mirrorlist = https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=epel-6&arch=x86_64
...
[ec2-user@fakeip ~]$ yum search libsndfile
Loaded plugins: priorities, update-motd, upgrade-helper
epel/x86_64/metalink                         | 3.8 kB  00:00:00
epel                                         | 4.7 kB  00:00:00
(1/3): epel/x86_64/group_gz                  |  74 kB  00:00:00
(2/3): epel/x86_64/updateinfo                | 788 kB  00:00:00
(3/3): epel/x86_64/primary_db                | 6.1 MB  00:00:00
1067 packages excluded due to repository priority protections
Warning: No matches found for: libsndfile
No matches found

The libsndfile docs state that it has been compile on Debian/GNU Linux, but Amazon Linux AMI is not based on Debian. The build dependencies for libsndfile (autoconf autogen automake build-essential libasound2-dev libflac-dev libogg-dev libtool libvorbis-dev libopus-dev libmp3lame-dev libmpg123-dev pkg-config python) all refer to Debian packages, which do not have the same name for other Linux flavors. In particular, build-essential, libasound2-dev, libflac-dev, libopus-dev, libmp3lame-dev and libmpg123-dev are not on EPEL.

[ec2-user@fakeip ~]$ yum search autoconf autogen automake build-essential \
    libasound2-dev   libflac-dev libogg-dev libtool libvorbis-dev libopus-dev \
    libmp3lame-dev   libmpg123-dev pkg-config python
... skipping output
Warning: No matches found for: build-essential
Warning: No matches found for: libasound2-dev
Warning: No matches found for: libflac-dev
Warning: No matches found for: libopus-dev
Warning: No matches found for: libmp3lame-dev
Warning: No matches found for: libmpg123-dev

libmpelame-dev may be lame-devel, lame-libs, lame, and/or lame-mp3x.

[ec2-user@fakeip ~]$ yum search lame
Loaded plugins: priorities, update-motd, upgrade-helper
1067 packages excluded due to repository priority protections
================================================== N/S matched: lame ===================================================
lame-devel.i686 : Development files for lame
lame-devel.x86_64 : Development files for lame
lame-libs.i686 : LAME MP3 encoding library
lame-libs.x86_64 : LAME MP3 encoding library
flamerobin.x86_64 : Graphical client for Firebird
lame.x86_64 : Free MP3 audio compressor
lame-mp3x.x86_64 : MP3 frame analyzer

libflac-dev may be flac-devel

[ec2-user@fakeip ~]$ yum search flac
Loaded plugins: priorities, update-motd, upgrade-helper
1067 packages excluded due to repository priority protections
================================================== N/S matched: flac ===================================================
flac-devel.x86_64 : Development libraries and header files from FLAC
easytag.x86_64 : Tag editor for mp3, ogg, flac and other music files
flac.i686 : An encoder/decoder for the Free Lossless Audio Codec
flac.x86_64 : An encoder/decoder for the Free Lossless Audio Codec
mp3fs.x86_64 : FUSE filesystem to transcode FLAC to MP3 on the fly

libopus-dev may be opus-devel

[ec2-user@fakeip ~]$ yum search opus
Loaded plugins: priorities, update-motd, upgrade-helper
1067 packages excluded due to repository priority protections
================================================== N/S matched: opus ===================================================
opus-devel.i686 : Development package for opus
opus-devel.x86_64 : Development package for opus
opus.i686 : An audio codec for use in low-delay speech and audio communication
opus.x86_64 : An audio codec for use in low-delay speech and audio communication

libmpg123-dev is https://www.mpg123.org/

Recommendations

• Switch your EC2 to Amazon Linux 2 or Ubuntu
• Run your app in a Docker image on the EC2