[SOLVED] Speech recognition microphone needs PyAudio 0.2.11 or later, but I have 0.2.8

Otacon 141.12 · 05-04-2018, 09:42 PM

I have been studying speech recognition in python from this article https://realpython.com/python-speech-recognition/. Before a VirtualBox update a few days ago, everything was working fine. However, I had it in a saved state, so when I went back to resume my work, Vb game me an error which was resolved by deleting the saved snapshot, and booting the VM up normally. However, I had to reinstall the python stuff, the same as before, but I am getting this error now:

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ python3
Python 3.5.2 (default, Nov 23 2017, 16:37:01)
[GCC 5.4.0 20160609] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import speech_recognition as sr
>>> r = sr.Recognizer()
>>> mic = sr.Microphone()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/home/programmer/.local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/speech_recognition/__init__.py", line 79, in __init__
    self.pyaudio_module = self.get_pyaudio()
  File "/home/programmer/.local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/speech_recognition/__init__.py", line 113, in get_pyaudio
    raise AttributeError("PyAudio 0.2.11 or later is required (found version {})".format(pyaudio.__version__))
AttributeError: PyAudio 0.2.11 or later is required (found version 0.2.8)
>>>

I have been unable to update PyAudio to the required version for the microphone class to work. I have tried many things that I've seen on a bunch of google search results, and I forget what all I have tried at this point. After two days, I am giving up and now I seek assistance.

Both my computer and my VM are running Linux Mint Sylvia 18.3 amd64, and they're both up-to-date (at the time of this post).
Speech_Recognition is version 3.8.1

Code:

$ uname -a
Linux dev-vm 4.13.0-39-generic #44~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Apr 5 16:43:10 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

If anyone could help me, I'd be extremely grateful. Thank you for your time.

hydrurga · 05-04-2018, 09:56 PM

Have you tried installing pyaudio using pip? That should install the latest version.

Code:

sudo -H pip3 install pyaudio

Otacon 141.12 · 05-04-2018, 10:34 PM

Thank you for your prompt reply.

The result of that was:

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip3 install pyaudio
[sudo] password for programmer: 
Requirement already satisfied (use --upgrade to upgrade): pyaudio in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages
You are using pip version 8.1.1, however version 10.0.1 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'pip install --upgrade pip' command.
programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip install --upgrade pip
Requirement already up-to-date: pip in /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages (10.0.1)
programmer@dev-vm:~$

So then I tried this:

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip install --upgrade pip
Requirement already up-to-date: pip in /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages (10.0.1)
programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip3
Collecting pip3
  Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement pip3 (from versions: )
No matching distribution found for pip3
You are using pip version 8.1.1, however version 10.0.1 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'pip install --upgrade pip' command.
programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip
Collecting pip
  Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/0f/74/ecd13431bcc456ed390b44c8a6e917c1820365cbebcb6a8974d1cd045ab4/pip-10.0.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Installing collected packages: pip
  Found existing installation: pip 8.1.1
    Not uninstalling pip at /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages, outside environment /usr
Successfully installed pip-10.0.1
programmer@dev-vm:~$

I also tried:

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ pip install --upgrade pyaudio
Collecting pyaudio
  Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/ab/42/b4f04721c5c5bfc196ce156b3c768998ef8c0ae3654ed29ea5020c749a6b/PyAudio-0.2.11.tar.gz
Installing collected packages: pyaudio
  Found existing installation: PyAudio 0.2.8
Cannot uninstall 'PyAudio'. It is a distutils installed project and thus we cannot accurately determine which files belong to it which would lead to only a partial uninstall.
programmer@dev-vm:~$ pip3 install --upgrade pyaudio
Collecting pyaudio
  Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/ab/42/b4f04721c5c5bfc196ce156b3c768998ef8c0ae3654ed29ea5020c749a6b/PyAudio-0.2.11.tar.gz
Installing collected packages: pyaudio
  Found existing installation: PyAudio 0.2.8
Cannot uninstall 'PyAudio'. It is a distutils installed project and thus we cannot accurately determine which files belong to it which would lead to only a partial uninstall.
programmer@dev-vm:~$

And I tried:

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip install --upgrade pyaudio
Collecting pyaudio
  Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/ab/42/b4f04721c5c5bfc196ce156b3c768998ef8c0ae3654ed29ea5020c749a6b/PyAudio-0.2.11.tar.gz
Installing collected packages: pyaudio
  Found existing installation: PyAudio 0.2.8
Cannot uninstall 'PyAudio'. It is a distutils installed project and thus we cannot accurately determine which files belong to it which would lead to only a partial uninstall.
programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pyaudio
Collecting pyaudio
  Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/ab/42/b4f04721c5c5bfc196ce156b3c768998ef8c0ae3654ed29ea5020c749a6b/PyAudio-0.2.11.tar.gz
Installing collected packages: pyaudio
  Found existing installation: PyAudio 0.2.8
Cannot uninstall 'PyAudio'. It is a distutils installed project and thus we cannot accurately determine which files belong to it which would lead to only a partial uninstall.
programmer@dev-vm:~$

Oh GNU/Linux, why can't things be at least 0.0001% as easy to install/configure/maintain as on the other two main proprietary systems?

hydrurga · 05-04-2018, 10:57 PM

It's fun and games with Python 2 and Python 3 co-existing.

Fortunately, as time progresses, distros will move over completely to Python 3.

Anyway, as far as I am aware, the correct commands to update pip3 and then upgrade the existing pyaudio module (rather than install it from scratch, my bad) are:

Code:

sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip

sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pyaudio

Regarding the failure of the latter to work, do you have the python-pyaudio package installed?:

Code:

dpkg -l "*python-pyaudio*"

Otacon 141.12 · 05-05-2018, 03:25 PM

Here are the outputs from those commands:

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip
Requirement already up-to-date: pip in /usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages (10.0.1)
programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pyaudio
Collecting pyaudio
  Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packa...-0.2.11.tar.gz
Installing collected packages: pyaudio
  Found existing installation: PyAudio 0.2.8
Cannot uninstall 'PyAudio'. It is a distutils installed project and thus we cannot accurately determine which files belong to it which would lead to only a partial uninstall.
programmer@dev-vm:~$

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ dpkg -l "*python-pyaudio*"
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                        Version            Architecture       Description
+++-===========================-==================-==================-============================================================
ii  python-pyaudio              0.2.8-1build2      amd64              Python bindings for PortAudio v19
un  python-pyaudio-doc          <none>             <none>             (no description available)
programmer@dev-vm:~$

hydrurga · 05-05-2018, 03:35 PM

Thanks. Let's try removing the python-pyaudio package and installing the latest version from scratch through pip:

Code:

sudo apt-get purge python-pyaudio

sudo -H pip3 install pyaudio

Otacon 141.12 · 05-06-2018, 04:21 PM

Thanks for your continued support. The results of those commands are:

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo apt-get purge python-pyaudio
[sudo] password for programmer: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  python-pyaudio*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 109 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 339711 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing python-pyaudio (0.2.8-1build2) ...
programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip3 install pyaudio
Requirement already satisfied: pyaudio in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (0.2.8)
programmer@dev-vm:~$

hydrurga · 05-06-2018, 04:28 PM

Thanks. Although we deleted the package, it left the module behind.

Let's try deleting that older (and problematic) module:

Code:

sudo -H pip3 uninstall pyaudio

Then reinstalling what should be the latest one:

Code:

sudo -H pip3 install pyaudio

Otacon 141.12 · 05-06-2018, 07:27 PM

Ok, thanks. I tried the first command, but I got this:

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip3 uninstall pyaudio
[sudo] password for programmer: 
Cannot uninstall 'PyAudio'. It is a distutils installed project and thus we cannot accurately determine which files belong to it which would lead to only a partial uninstall.
programmer@dev-vm:~$

I sincerely appreciate the time you're spending helping me.

hydrurga · 05-06-2018, 07:36 PM

I'm just sorry I haven't solved this more quickly - it's an issue I've never come across before.

Next approach:

Code:

sudo -H pip3 --ignore-installed pyaudio

If this works, it will probably leave remnants from the distutils-installed module, so you should test pyaudio in case these cause issues.

Otacon 141.12 · 05-07-2018, 01:30 PM

It's quite alright. It's not urgent. When I tried that command, it looks like it worked:

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip3 install --ignore-installed pyaudio
Collecting pyaudio
  Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/ab/42/b4f04721c5c5bfc196ce156b3c768998ef8c0ae3654ed29ea5020c749a6b/PyAudio-0.2.11.tar.gz
Installing collected packages: pyaudio
  Running setup.py install for pyaudio ... done
Successfully installed pyaudio-0.2.11
programmer@dev-vm:~$

I tried it with the python speech recognition, and it worked, so thank you very much for your help!

In the future, I don't think I will update my software as often, because it's not uncommon for updates to make things worse, rendering them counter-productive, a Microsofty characteristic. It could have been because of the saved state I left the VM in, but after that update, it took a significant chunk of my productivity time away. That seems to be a common problem in the open-source community.

But anyway, now I'm able to start researching again, so once again, thank you very much for your time and help

Sefyir · 05-07-2018, 05:40 PM

Just as a reference.
Developing python is tricky since many OS's use it, which can make updating tricky.

You can try using virtual environments, or maybe Anaconda and install it as a local user, which should allow you to install any versions needed without affecting the system version of python.

hydrurga · 05-07-2018, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otacon 141.12

It's quite alright. It's not urgent. When I tried that command, it looks like it worked:

Code:

programmer@dev-vm:~$ sudo -H pip3 install --ignore-installed pyaudio
Collecting pyaudio
  Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/ab/42/b4f04721c5c5bfc196ce156b3c768998ef8c0ae3654ed29ea5020c749a6b/PyAudio-0.2.11.tar.gz
Installing collected packages: pyaudio
  Running setup.py install for pyaudio ... done
Successfully installed pyaudio-0.2.11
programmer@dev-vm:~$

I tried it with the python speech recognition, and it worked, so thank you very much for your help!

In the future, I don't think I will update my software as often, because it's not uncommon for updates to make things worse, rendering them counter-productive, a Microsofty characteristic. It could have been because of the saved state I left the VM in, but after that update, it took a significant chunk of my productivity time away. That seems to be a common problem in the open-source community.

But anyway, now I'm able to start researching again, so once again, thank you very much for your time and help

Great to hear.