Problems installing Spyder in WSL

[angrosamund]

Problem Description

I've been trying to launch Spyder from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Windows Subsystem for LInux) but it always get aborted almost immediately. I'm quite new to Ubuntu/programming in general, and would appreciate some help/advice on this, thank you!

sidenote: I also have this error message when I try to install pyqt5, but I'm not sure if this is related to the above problem.

ERROR: spyder 4.0.1 requires pyqtwebengine<5.13; python_version >= "3", which is not installed.
ERROR: spyder 4.0.1 has requirement pyqt5<5.13; python_version >= "3", but you'll have pyqt5 5.15.0 which is incompatible.
Installing collected packages: PyQt5-sip, PyQt5
ERROR: Could not install packages due to an EnvironmentError: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted

What steps reproduce the problem?

1. downloaded anaconda
2. downloaded xcvsrv
3. launched spyder

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?

Spyder is supposed to launch, but instead I get the following error message:

Paste Traceback/Error Below (if applicable)

QStandardPaths: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set, defaulting to '/tmp/runtime-apeiyin'
[8654:8672:0615/011408.058943:FATAL:udev_linux.cc(29)] Check failed: 0 == ret (0 vs. -22)
#0 0x7fedfeb560be
#1 0x7fedfeb686c2
#2 0x7fedfe614c18
#3 0x7fedff42654b
#4 0x7fedfebcd9e3
#5 0x7fedfeb71090
#6 0x7fedfeb726e8
#7 0x7fedfeb72a7b
#8 0x7fedfeb74132
#9 0x7fedfeb70438
#10 0x7fedfeb8ce9b
#11 0x7fedfe6870dc
#12 0x7fedfe6872de
#13 0x7fedfeba5678
#14 0x7fedfeba16db
#15 0x7fee186d8609 start_thread
#16 0x7fee185f2103 clone

Aborted (core dumped)

PASTE TRACEBACK HERE

Versions

• Spyder version: 4.0.1
• Python version: 3.7.6
• Qt version: qmake version 3.1
• PyQt version:
• Operating System name/version: Windows 10 (but using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for WSL)

Dependencies

PASTE DEPENDENCIES HERE

[ccordoba12]

I've been trying to launch Spyder from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Windows Subsystem for LInux) but it always get aborted almost immediately.

Unfortunately we don't support that platform, but we'll try to help you until we can.

I'm quite new to Ubuntu/programming in general, and would appreciate some help/advice on this, thank you!

If you don't have experience with neither Ubuntu nor programming, why do you want to use Spyder through the Windows Subsystem for LInux? That's not an easy task, so I think it'd be way easier for you to simply install Spyder for Windows and start from there.

sidenote: I also have this error message when I try to install pyqt5, but I'm not sure if this is related to the above problem.

There's no need to install pyqt5 with pip if you downloaded and correctly installed Anaconda for Windows Subsystem for LInux.

If you did install pyqt5, you broke your Anaconda installation and you'll have to reinstall it again.

downloaded anaconda

What Anaconda version did you download and for what operating system?

[ccordoba12]

I'm leaving this one for you @goanpeca after this point. Just wanted to give my feedback.

[angrosamund]

@ccordoba12 Hi, thank you for your prompt reply!

I have been using Spyders for Windows with little issues, but am required to program with Spyder on Ubuntu for WSL for project that I'm currently involved in. I had initially tried to Jupyter Notebook as an alternative, but faced some kernel issues there as well. Is there a way for me to use my Spyder on Windows for my programming in WSL?

I downloaded Anaconda with Python 3.7 for Linux using the installer as shown in the image.

[PAGWatson]

I'm having the same problem. My reason for using Spyder in WSL is that some python packages that are important for my work don't seem to be available in Windows. I appreciate that it may not be straightforward to make it work, though.

[ccordoba12]

@PAGWatson, our team is very small and we don't have time to support yet another platform. If this is critical for you, please consider to tell your company to fund that work through a Quansight Labs Community Work Order. That's basically a contract between a company and Spyder (mediated by Quansight Labs) to fund specific features or developments in the project.

[PAGWatson]

@ccordoba12 I know, I was just writing to give you info on your user base to help you prioritise.

[PAGWatson]

I found today that after upgrading to WSL 2, with Ubuntu 20.04 installed, spyder now loads (it having been installed with Anaconda previously). See here for steps to install WSL 2, if you have a compatible computer: https://scotch.io/bar-talk/trying-the-new-wsl-2-its-fast-windows-subsystem-for-linux#toc-installing-wsl

[ccordoba12]

Closing this one because it exists a solution for it.

[skjerns]

I found today that after upgrading to WSL 2, with Ubuntu 20.04 installed, spyder now loads (it having been installed with Anaconda previously). See here for steps to install WSL 2, if you have a compatible computer: https://scotch.io/bar-talk/trying-the-new-wsl-2-its-fast-windows-subsystem-for-linux#toc-installing-wsl

Unfortunately, the link is now dead. @PAGWatson do you have a copy available and would add it to the spyder documentation or wiki, so it stays accessible?