{"library":"pylibmagic","title":"pylibmagic","description":"pylibmagic is a lightweight Python package designed to simplify the installation and usage of the `libmagic` C library. It provides pre-compiled `libmagic` shared libraries via Python wheels, primarily addressing the common `ImportError: failed to find libmagic` encountered when using other `libmagic` bindings like `python-magic`. The current version is 0.5.0, with releases focusing on expanding Python version and architecture support.","language":"python","status":"active","last_verified":"Mon May 18","install":{"commands":["pip install pylibmagic"],"cli":null},"imports":["import pylibmagic\nimport magic"],"auth":{"required":false,"env_vars":[]},"quickstart":{"code":"import pylibmagic\nimport magic\n\n# pylibmagic ensures the underlying libmagic library is available\n# You can inspect the data path it uses:\nprint(f\"pylibmagic data path: {pylibmagic.data}\")\n\n# Now, use the python-magic library as usual\ntry:\n    m = magic.Magic()\n    file_type = m.from_buffer(b\"hello world\")\n    print(f\"'hello world' is detected as: {file_type}\")\n    \n    # Example with a common file type\n    with open(\"temp_text.txt\", \"w\") as f:\n        f.write(\"This is a test file.\")\n    file_type_from_file = m.from_file(\"temp_text.txt\")\n    print(f\"'temp_text.txt' is detected as: {file_type_from_file}\")\n    import os\n    os.remove(\"temp_text.txt\")\nexcept Exception as e:\n    print(f\"An error occurred: {e}\")\n    print(\"Ensure 'python-magic' is also installed (`pip install python-magic`).\")","lang":"python","description":"This quickstart demonstrates how to use `pylibmagic` in conjunction with the `python-magic` library. `pylibmagic` ensures that the `libmagic` C library is available for `python-magic` to use, solving common installation issues. After importing `pylibmagic`, you can then proceed to use the `magic` module from `python-magic` as intended.","tag":null,"tag_description":null,"last_tested":null,"results":[]},"compatibility":{"tag":null,"tag_description":null,"last_tested":"2026-05-18","installed_version":"0.5.0","pypi_latest":"0.5.0","is_stale":false,"summary":{"python_range":"3.10–3.9","success_rate":100,"avg_install_s":1.6,"avg_import_s":0.07,"wheel_type":"wheel"},"results":[{"runtime":"python:3.10-alpine","python_version":"3.10","os_libc":"alpine (musl)","variant":"pylibmagic","exit_code":0,"wheel_type":"wheel","failure_reason":null,"import_side_effects":"clean","install_time_s":null,"import_time_s":0.04,"mem_mb":2.4,"disk_size":"25.5M"},{"runtime":"python:3.10-slim","python_version":"3.10","os_libc":"slim (glibc)","variant":"pylibmagic","exit_code":0,"wheel_type":"wheel","failure_reason":null,"import_side_effects":"clean","install_time_s":1.6,"import_time_s":0.04,"mem_mb":2.4,"disk_size":"26M"},{"runtime":"python:3.11-alpine","python_version":"3.11","os_libc":"alpine (musl)","variant":"pylibmagic","exit_code":0,"wheel_type":"wheel","failure_reason":null,"import_side_effects":"clean","install_time_s":null,"import_time_s":0.07,"mem_mb":2.7,"disk_size":"27.3M"},{"runtime":"python:3.11-slim","python_version":"3.11","os_libc":"slim (glibc)","variant":"pylibmagic","exit_code":0,"wheel_type":"wheel","failure_reason":null,"import_side_effects":"clean","install_time_s":1.7,"import_time_s":0.07,"mem_mb":2.7,"disk_size":"28M"},{"runtime":"python:3.12-alpine","python_version":"3.12","os_libc":"alpine (musl)","variant":"pylibmagic","exit_code":0,"wheel_type":"wheel","failure_reason":null,"import_side_effects":"clean","install_time_s":null,"import_time_s":0.09,"mem_mb":3.4,"disk_size":"19.2M"},{"runtime":"python:3.12-slim","python_version":"3.12","os_libc":"slim (glibc)","variant":"pylibmagic","exit_code":0,"wheel_type":"wheel","failure_reason":null,"import_side_effects":"clean","install_time_s":1.5,"import_time_s":0.1,"mem_mb":3.4,"disk_size":"20M"},{"runtime":"python:3.13-alpine","python_version":"3.13","os_libc":"alpine (musl)","variant":"pylibmagic","exit_code":0,"wheel_type":"wheel","failure_reason":null,"import_side_effects":"clean","install_time_s":null,"import_time_s":0.08,"mem_mb":3.4,"disk_size":"19.0M"},{"runtime":"python:3.13-slim","python_version":"3.13","os_libc":"slim (glibc)","variant":"pylibmagic","exit_code":0,"wheel_type":"wheel","failure_reason":null,"import_side_effects":"clean","install_time_s":1.5,"import_time_s":0.09,"mem_mb":3.2,"disk_size":"19M"},{"runtime":"python:3.9-alpine","python_version":"3.9","os_libc":"alpine (musl)","variant":"pylibmagic","exit_code":0,"wheel_type":"wheel","failure_reason":null,"import_side_effects":"clean","install_time_s":null,"import_time_s":0.04,"mem_mb":2.3,"disk_size":"25.0M"},{"runtime":"python:3.9-slim","python_version":"3.9","os_libc":"slim (glibc)","variant":"pylibmagic","exit_code":0,"wheel_type":"wheel","failure_reason":null,"import_side_effects":"clean","install_time_s":1.9,"import_time_s":0.04,"mem_mb":2.3,"disk_size":"25M"}]}}