OpenCV: libdc1394 error: Failed to initialize libdc1394

Question

I installed OpenCV correctly on Ubuntu 14.04. However, when I run: import cv2 I get this error message:

>>> import cv2
libdc1394 error         


        

Answer 1

I vaguely remember a similar problem I once had. It has something to do with user-level permission to firewire devices. You need to add a new udev rule. Create a file /etc/udev/rules.d/raw1394.rules and add the following line:

KERNEL=="raw1394", GROUP="video"

Details can be found here and here.

Answer 2

Maybe disabling the driver isn't the best solution, but so far this hasn't given me any problems and was the easiest way I found to solve the issue:

sudo ln /dev/null /dev/raw1394

Attention: It is not a permanent solution.