I installed pdf2image, this library needs poppler-utils, I added in the env, but it still can't find

Di ko pa Po magets masyado

if you're on railpack (default for new projects): just make sure pdf2image is in requirements.txt and redeploy. it'll auto-install poppler-utils.

if you're still on nixpacks (older projects): create a nixpacks.toml file:

[phases.setup]
aptPkgs = ['...', 'poppler-utils']

the '...' keeps existing packages. check which builder you're using in service settings → builder section

thank you, I checked my requirements.txt, pdf2image is included, I can see build log has
↳ Installing runtime apt packages for pdf2image: [poppler-utils]

But I still got generation failed: Unable to get page count. Is poppler installed and in PATH?

good;poppler is installed the issue is pdf2image can't find it at runtime. you need to tell pdf2image where poppler lives

in your code where you call convert_from_path() or convert_from_bytes(), add the poppler_path parameter:

python

from pdf2image import convert_from_path

images = convert_from_path('your.pdf', poppler_path='/usr/bin')

poppler-utils installs to /usr/bin on linux (which railway uses), so point pdf2image there explicitly and it should work

Sorry, the problem is the same. I found that the problem can be solved by manually installing the package via SSH
apt-get update && apt-get install -y poppler-utils

Is there a way to run this command when the instance is building? I tried NIXPACKS_APT_PKGS = poppler-utils which is not working

ah gotcha railpack installed it for build but you need it at runtime. add this environment variable to your railway service:

RAILPACK_DEPLOY_APT_PACKAGES=poppler-utils

this installs poppler-utils in the final runtime container, not just during build. that's why ssh install works but the build install doesn't persist

go to service settings → variables → add RAILPACK_DEPLOY_APT_PACKAGES with value poppler-utils, then redeploy

Hello qinbatista. I faced this same issue also before with pdf libraries. For some reason, even with the declared packages its not installing via railpack or nixpacks. What worked for me was switching to Dockerfile. In Dockerfile, you can place the exact commands that you need to install this.

Thank you, this works, but I have multiple packages. I found I can enable all of them by:

RAILPACK_DEPLOY_APT_PACKAGES = librsvg2-bin poppler-utils

Hope this solution can help others.

Dockerfile is not the default setting for Railway; in order to avoid mistakes, I decided to use Railpack. You can install packages like this:
RAILPACK_DEPLOY_APT_PACKAGES = librsvg2-bin poppler-utils

glad it's working! btw could you mark this as solved so the bounty gets awarded? would really appreciate it since we got you unstuck