IOError: decoder jpeg not available when using Pillow

Question

Before someone says \"sudo apt-get install libjpeg-dev\" or something along those lines, I do not have sudo access. I am on a slice of a server that does NOT allow

Answer 1

Instead of just downloading the libraries you need, try creating an entire Python environment in locally in your home folder:

$ wget http://www.python.org/ftp/python/[desired version of Python].tgz
$ tar xzf Python[version].tgz
$ cd python-[version]
$ ./configure
$ make altinstall prefix=~ exec-prefix=~

Update your PATH variable so that your local Python is executed first:

$ PATH = /home/user/[pathtopython]:$PATH

Obtain pip, from which other packages can be installed:

$ curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py > get-pip.py
$ ./get-pip.py
$ pip install pillow

URLs may vary. You might still have to modify setup.py - I haven't used this technique with C-like libraries so I'm not sure.