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Install and verify

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The system libvips package and a language package are different installs. pyvips and govips usually need a discoverable system libvips. A prebuilt sharp package can carry its own copy. Recording only the binding version is not enough to reproduce encoders and format support.

Version baseline on the verification host

Section titled “Version baseline on the verification host”

The version commands below were run on 2026-10-12 on Fedora Linux 43. The table records the environment used to verify the examples in this handbook.

Component Version observed libvips it loaded
vips CLI 8.17.3 8.17.3
pyvips 3.2.0 8.17.3
sharp 0.35.5 8.18.7, bundled in the package
Go 1.27.0 Does not ship libvips. Executed examples use govips v2.19.0 linked to the system libvips 8.17.3 above
Node.js 24.14.1 See sharp
Python 3.14.5 See pyvips

govips has no separate version command. Executed examples record v2.19.0 together with system libvips 8.17.3.

Reference install commands for other platforms

Section titled “Reference install commands for other platforms”

These two commands come from the official libvips install guide, reviewed 2026-10-12.

Development package on Ubuntu or Debian:

终端窗口
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libvips-dev

Homebrew on macOS:

终端窗口
brew install vips

After installing, check the CLI version with vips --version. A distribution package can be older than 8.17.3; verify that your target operations exist in that version before relying on behaviour from this handbook.

Install a binding

Section titled “Install a binding”

Go / govips

Section titled “Go / govips”
终端窗口
go get github.com/davidbyttow/govips/v2@v2.19.0

govips uses CGO. If the compiler cannot find headers, check that pkg-config --modversion vips matches the system library you intend to use.

Node.js / sharp

Section titled “Node.js / sharp”
终端窗口
npm install sharp@0.35.5
node -e "import('sharp').then(({default:s}) => console.log(s.versions))"

Keep both sharp and vips from that output. The 0.35.5 prebuilt package carried libvips 8.18.7 in this check.

Python / pyvips

Section titled “Python / pyvips”
终端窗口
python -m pip install pyvips==3.2.0
python -c "import pyvips; print(pyvips.__version__, pyvips.version(0), pyvips.version(1), pyvips.version(2))"

Sources

Section titled “Sources”