Install PyQt5 on Ubuntu with python3. Steps to set up PyQt5 (ubuntu). With python code generation

Install PyQt5 on Ubuntu with python3 .md

Installation

pip3 install --user pyqt5  
sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5  
sudo apt-get install pyqt5-dev-tools
sudo apt-get install qttools5-dev-tools

---

Configuring to run from terminal

$ qtchooser -run-tool=designer -qt=5

OR

Write the following in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt-default/qtchooser/default.conf

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/bin
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu

---

Code Generation

Create uic.py file.

#!/usr/bin/python3

import subprocess
import sys

child = subprocess.Popen(['pyuic5' ,'-x',sys.argv[1]],stdout=subprocess.PIPE)

print(str(child.communicate()[0],encoding='utf-8'))

$ chmod +x uic.py

Create a symlink:

$ sudo ln uic.py "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/bin/uic"

---

Desktop Entry

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Qt5 Designer
Icon=designer
Exec=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/bin/designer
Type=Application
Categories=Application
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=true
Actions=NewWindow

Name[en_US]=Qt5 Designer

[Desktop Action NewWindow]
Name=Open a New Window
Exec=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/bin/designer

save in ~/.local/share/application with .desktop extension

Unable to launch /usr/lib/qt5/bin/uic.

Please help!!

I'm using Linux Mint and the first command pip3 install --user pyqt5 told me I need the SIP software/library. So I downloaded it from this page: http://pyqt.sourceforge.net/Docs/sip4/installation.html

By following the steps, I achieved the make step, and it also threw an error telling me Python.h wasn't available, so I had to install sudo apt-get install python3-dev. Then ran make again and worked. Then the pip3 install --user pyqt5 command worked.

@ravi97garg here write
sudo ln uic.py "/usr/lib/qt5/bin/uic"

worked thanks

How do I add PyQt5 to Qt Creator? I'm lost. I've spent 4 hours on this and now I've given up. Any help?

How do I add PyQt5 to Qt Creator? I'm lost. I've spent 4 hours on this and now I've given up. Any help?

What do you mean by adding PyQt5 to Qt Creator?
They work separately.
Usually, You can use Qt Creator (or Qt Designer) to draw the UI and generate .ui file, e.g. window.ui. Then you use PyQt5 to convert the window.ui file to a window.py file. Then you should write your code based on the window.py and don't need window.ui anymore, unless you modified it (you should redo the conversion).

Help me! How to fix this problem?

when i run qtchooser -run-tool=designer -qt=5
i get
QXcbConnection: Could not connect to display
Aborted (core dumped)
What must have gone wrong? I created a new virtual environment and followed your steps.

@MrFlava Looks like you either you don't have python3 in /usr/bin or there's some error in your uic.py file

@madhuniha This seems like a bug. Try running
$ xvfb-run -- qtchooser -run-tool=designer -qt=5

Ref. wkhtmltopdf/wkhtmltopdf#2037 (comment)

@ujjwal96 you mean this?

Thank you so much! This worked, as opposed to other methods.

Q: how to convert .ui file into .py file?
Ans: Open terminal in the folder where your ui file present, then write this command.
pyuic -x [FILENAME].ui -o [FILENAME].py

So, from the point of view of running python within a virtual environment, it is very likely that all steps to get pyqt5 will work, except the bit that used to bring qt-designer in. If the system has Qt5 installed, it seems to have all the libraries required for it installed too and even if you don't have pyqt5 installed on the base system, the qtchooser way of launching qtdesigner from above will work.

Therefore, a key component here is qtchooser.

The compiler will become available immediately within the virtualenv once you install pyqt5 there.

It would be great if the settings to launch the designer (in terms of setting up environment variables) where applied by one of the pip packages :/

Which path do I choose to save the uic.py file?!?
After creating the uic.py file by entering this command
$ sudo ln uic.py "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/bin/uic"
I have the following error !!!
ln: failed to create hard link '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/bin/uic': File exists

Hi everyone I got stuck right at the first command(pip3 install --user pyqt5) which show there error:
Command "python setup.py egg_info" failed with error code 1 in /tmp/pip-build-cvndyrvb/pyqt5/
I went through:
facebook/prophet#418
https://superuser.com/questions/241865/updating-python-on-ubuntu-system

And none of it helped. Any ideas?

Hi everyone I got stuck right at the first command(pip3 install --user pyqt5) which show there error:
Command "python setup.py egg_info" failed with error code 1 in /tmp/pip-build-cvndyrvb/pyqt5/
I went through:
facebook/prophet#418
https://superuser.com/questions/241865/updating-python-on-ubuntu-system

And none of it helped. Any ideas?

use pip3 install --user pyqt5==5.14

Top-notch tutorial in that it works without a lot of knowledge about Ubuntu! I think it's possible that the Desktop Entry section is no longer needed. If you decide to keep it, it needs a minor update.

When I have finished the tutorial and Show Application in Ubu 18, I see two for designer. One has a generic icon and the other has an icon specific to Qt.

The .desktop file with is in /usr/share/applications/designer-qt5.desktop with a modification date in 2018 so I suppose it was installed along with Qt. The .desktop file for the the item with the generic logo is in the one I created following the tutorial.

So, two issues:

1. if the desktop files are installed with QT do we really need the Desktop Entry section in the tutorial?
2. if you do keep that section I suggest changing "Icon=designer" to "Icon=designer-qt" since this creates the desktop entry with Qt's icon.

This is great work. Thanks again.

Thank you.

God bless you

When I run the last command I am getting this error "E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?". How do I fix this please

I also get "Command "python setup.py egg_info" failed with error code 1 in /tmp/pip-build-dm9du9iv/PyQt5/" like sahilparekh did.
We are getting it when attempting to use the first command: pip3 install --user PyQt5
Looks like it searches for the file /tmp/pip-build-dm9du9iv/PyQt5/setup.py
Once not found - it fails.
Complete outpu:

Collecting PyQt5
  Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/4d/81/b9a66a28fb9a7bbeb60e266f06ebc4703e7e42b99e3609bf1b58ddd232b9/PyQt5-5.14.2.tar.gz
    Complete output from command python setup.py egg_info:
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
      File "/usr/lib/python3.6/tokenize.py", line 452, in open
        buffer = _builtin_open(filename, 'rb')
    FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/tmp/pip-build-dm9du9iv/PyQt5/setup.py'
    
    ----------------------------------------
Command "python setup.py egg_info" failed with error code 1 in /tmp/pip-build-dm9du9iv/PyQt5/

I'm also getting "python setup.py egg_info" failed with error code 1 ..." . Did anyone get a fix for this yet? I tried "pip3 install --user pyqt5==5.14" as mentioned above but same problem?

Hi @SteveF161,
I don't know how I finally got passed the error as it was some time ago.
But I can show the output I get now as it might give you a clue:

$ pip3 install --user PyQt5
Requirement already satisfied: PyQt5 in /home/liron/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages (5.14.2)
Requirement already satisfied: PyQt5-sip<13,>=12.7 in /home/liron/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages (from PyQt5) (12.7.2)
WARNING: You are using pip version 20.1; however, version 20.2.2 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the '/usr/bin/python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip' command.

Hello @SteveF161 I can confirm @LionOpeter 's suggestion to update pip3
pip3 install --upgrade pip
worked for me on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

I got this error, someone can help me:

/usr/bin/python3.8 /home/dung/PycharmProjects/detai/main.py
QObject::moveToThread: Current thread (0x19ebfd0) is not the object's thread (0x20abd70).
Cannot move to target thread (0x19ebfd0)

qt.qpa.plugin: Could not load the Qt platform plugin "xcb" in "/home/dung/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cv2/qt/plugins" even though it was found.
This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

Available platform plugins are: xcb, eglfs, linuxfb, minimal, minimalegl, offscreen, vnc, wayland-egl, wayland, wayland-xcomposite-egl, wayland-xcomposite-glx, webgl.

Process finished with exit code 134 (interrupted by signal 6: SIGABRT)

Crystal clear instruction how to install PyQt5. Works like a charm!

Thanks for the instruction.

This still works on ubuntu 20.04!!!
Thank you so much!!!

Thank you, you helped me a lot

Hi @ujjwal96 ,

I am trying to install a ML package iLearnPlus
I made a separate conda environment on Ubuntu 22-04 and followed all the instructions while installing PyQt5 which you have recommended here.
I am still getting an error:

python iLearnPlus.py 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "iLearnPlus.py", line 5, in <module>
    from PyQt5.QtWidgets import (QApplication, QMainWindow, QWidget, QDesktopWidget, QLabel, QHBoxLayout, QMessageBox, QAction, QFileDialog)
ImportError: /home/amit/miniconda3/envs/ilearn/lib/python3.8/site-packages/PyQt5/QtWidgets.abi3.so: undefined symbol: _ZdlPvm, version Qt_5

Kindly help. Regards.