# error: command 'gcc' failed: No such file or directory

× Building wheel for lxml (pyproject.toml) did not run successfully.
│ exit code: 1
╰─> error: command 'gcc' failed with exit status 1

- **ID:** `python/setuptools-native-ext-build-failure`
- **Domain:** python
- **Category:** system_error
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 80%

## Root Cause

No C compiler (gcc/clang) is installed, so pip falls back to building a C extension from source and fails immediately.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| 3.x | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **** (92% success)
   ```
   # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install build-essential python3-dev libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev
# macOS
xcode-select --install
# then
python -m pip install lxml
   ```
2. **** (90% success)
   ```
   python -m pip install --only-binary=:all: lxml
# or pin a version that ships wheels for your platform
python -m pip install 'lxml==5.2.2'
   ```

## Dead Ends

- **** — Build tools are fine; the missing piece is the system C compiler. (85% fail)
- **** — Still attempts the source build and hits the same gcc error. (90% fail)