How to install openCV 2.4.13 for Python 2.7 on Ubuntu 16.04?

Question

I have tried a lot of online posts to install opencv but they are not working for Ubuntu 16.04. May anyone please give me the steps to install openCV 2.4.13 on it?

Answer 1

If you have more than one opencv installation on your machine, now I tell you the most direct, effective and easy way to choose opencv version in python.

You can type the following command to check the current opencv version in python

import cv2
cv2.__version__

opencv path in python is set in system variable PYTHONPATH, you can echo this variable with echo $PYTHONPATH

If I want to use opencv3.x in python, then using vi or gedit open .bashrc in the home folder, add this content to the end

export PYTHONPATH=/home/ismart/ipa2/devel/lib/python2.7/dist-packages:/home/ismart/catkin_ws/install_isolated/lib/python2.7/dist-packages:/usr/local/opencv3.x/lib/python2.7/dist-packages

Replace the path with yours

Answer 2

According to this source, from Ubuntu 16.04, you can now just do this to install OpenCV for Python2.7:

pip install opencv-python

or for python3:

pip3 install opencv-python

For more information, see here.

I tested this on my machine and it works, great stuff this :).

This is much easier than all other methods I have come across thus far.

Answer 3

sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake git pkg-config
sudo apt-get install libjpeg8-dev libtiff4-dev libjasper-dev libpng12-dev
sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-dev
sudo apt-get install libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libswscale-dev libv4l-dev
sudo apt-get install libatlas-base-dev gfortran
sudo apt-get install python2.7-dev
sudo pip install numpy
sudo apt-get install python-opencv

Then you can have a try:

$ python
Python 2.7.6 (default, Oct 26 2016, 20:30:19) 
[GCC 4.8.4] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import cv
>>> import cv2

Answer 4

There's a script I had made a while back, for installing the latest version of OpenCV (4.2 as of the last update to this answer) Here's the link to it

https://github.com/rsnk96/Ubuntu-Setup-Scripts/blob/master/Build-OpenCV.sh

NOTE: For Ubuntu 16.10+, there are some minor dependency changes you will have to make. Have a look at the comments for the same.

Since you do not want to install opencv contrib, and you specifically want opencv 2.4.13, I have modified the script below. I would suggest you go through the script and understand what is happening before you execute it

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade -y

sudo apt-get install build-essential -y
sudo apt-get install cmake git libgtk2.0-dev pkg-config libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libswscale-dev -y

sudo apt-get install python3-numpy python3-pip python3-scipy python3-matplotlib python-dev python-matplotlib python-numpy python-scipy -y

sudo apt-get install python-pip python-tk libqt4-dev libqt4-opengl-dev  libeigen3-dev yasm libfaac-dev libopencore-amrnb-dev libopencore-amrwb-dev libtheora-dev libvorbis-dev libxvidcore-dev libx264-dev sphinx-common texlive-latex-extra libv4l-dev libdc1394-22-dev libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libswscale-dev default-jdk ant -y


echo "GUI and openGL extensions"
sudo apt-get install qt4-default libqt4-opengl-dev libvtk5-qt4-dev libgtk2.0-dev libgtkglext1 libgtkglext1-dev -y

echo "image manipulation libraries"
sudo apt-get install libpng3 pngtools libpng12-dev libpng12-0 libpng++-dev -y
sudo apt-get install libjpeg-dev libjpeg9 libjpeg9-dbg libjpeg-progs libtiff5-dev libtiff5 libtiffxx5 libtiff-tools libjasper-dev libjasper1  libjasper-runtime zlib1g zlib1g-dbg zlib1g-dev -y

echo "video manipulation libraries"
sudo apt-get install libavformat-dev libavutil-ffmpeg54 libavutil-dev libxine2-dev libxine2 libswscale-dev libswscale-ffmpeg3 libdc1394-22 libdc1394-22-dev libdc1394-utils -y

echo "codecs"
sudo apt-get install libavcodec-dev -y
sudo apt-get install libfaac-dev libmp3lame-dev -y
sudo apt-get install libopencore-amrnb-dev libopencore-amrwb-dev -y
sudo apt-get install libtheora-dev libvorbis-dev libxvidcore-dev -y
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg x264 libx264-dev -y
sudo apt-get install libv4l-0 libv4l v4l-utils -y

echo "multiproccessing library"
sudo apt-get install libtbb-dev -y

echo "finally download and install opencv"
mkdir opencv
cd opencv
wget "https://github.com/opencv/opencv/archive/2.4.13.2.zip"
unzip opencv-2.4.13.2.zip

cd opencv-2.4.13.2
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE \
 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local \
 -DINSTALL_C_EXAMPLES=ON \
 -DINSTALL_PYTHON_EXAMPLES=ON \
 -DBUILD_EXAMPLES=ON \
 -DBUILD_opencv_cvv=OFF \
 -DBUILD_NEW_PYTHON_SUPPORT=ON \
 -DWITH_TBB=ON \
 -DWITH_V4L=ON \
 -DWITH_QT=ON \
 -DWITH_OPENGL=ON \
 -DWITH_VTK=ON ..

echo "making and installing"
make -j8
sudo make install

echo "finishing off installation"
sudo /bin/bash -c 'echo "/usr/local/lib" > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/opencv.conf'
sudo ldconfig

echo "Congratulations! You have just installed OpenCV. And that's all, folks! :P"

P.S. Create a script file out of this and then just execute the script file, rather than copy-pasting it line by line into the terminal. You can do that by copying all of it, placing it in a file with the extension .sh, and then simply running that .sh file from the terminal using $ ./filename.sh