How do I resolve debug/release conflict after installing opencv under anaconda
Question: Tried to get started with OpenCV under Python today, although I have no
experience with the former and very little experience with the latter. Since I
am inexperienced, I followed a canned approach for the install, as detailed
below. Now I am trying to figure out if I need to install from source.

Started by downloading and installing Anaconda with Python 2.7.

Downloaded opencv 3.1.0 for Windows and moved the cv2.pyd file into
C:\Anaconda2\Lib\site-packages. I believe this means I installed a binary
rather than from source. Didn't tinker with any pathnames or environmental
variables at this point.

Used Anaconda Launcher to start Spyder. import cv2 ran in the Spyder console
without complaint. print cv2.**version** returned 3.1.0, which I interpreted
as a successful install.

Trouble began when I tried to do something. cv2.imread is returning a None
value. The obvious explanation for this is that I am supplying the wrong
filename but I don't think that's it. I ran os.listdir('.') and then
cv2.imread() to eliminate this possibility. The more sinister explanation is
that I have mixed Debug and Release libraries (see this thread [OpenCV
imread(filename) fails in debug mode when using release
libraries](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9125817/opencv-imreadfilename-
fails-in-debug-mode-when-using-release-libraries)).

My question is: how do I check if a release / debug conflict is indeed causing
the problem? I see some advice that references changing CMake parameters and
rebuilding but since I just dropped a binary into a folder, that doesn't
really relate to how I installed OpenCV. This brings me back to the question I
started with: do I need to abandon the binary and reinstall from the source?
That is a daunting prospect for me. I ran cv2.getBuildInformation() and it
dumped a bunch of text on my console but I couldn't figure out what it meant.
It seemed to reference both Release and Debug modes.

EDIT: I'm running 64 bit Windows 7 Pro

John


Answer: You might want to install OpenCV via [conda
packages](http://conda.pydata.org/docs/) which downloads the binaries and does
all the configuration for you. Open a command window (cmd.exe) and type:

    
    
    conda update conda
    conda install --channel https://conda.anaconda.org/menpo opencv
    

BUT, since you are starting I would recommend you to use Python 3. If you
prefer not to do a fresh installation, you can create a conda environment with
python 3.4 which runs independently and will not mesh up any of your
installations:

    
    
    conda create -n OpenCVenv python=3.4
    

To activate this environment you will need to run the following command every
time you want to use opencv or install new packages

    
    
    activate OpenCVenv
    

Once you have activated the environment you can install opencv3:

    
    
    conda install --channel https://conda.anaconda.org/menpo opencv3
    

Notice that if you want to install the different packages such as Spyder you
can do so:

    
    
    conda install spyder
    

That's because Spyder is supported within Anaconda. For example you can
install all the [packages included en
Anaconda](https://docs.continuum.io/anaconda/pkg-docs)

    
    
    conda install anaconda
    

