Inkscape Missing libxml2 OSX Fix

inkscape-libxml2-fix

I have installed Inkscape via homebrew, so this may not work with the website binaries.

TL;DR fix:
Make sure you are using the system version of python, check with
which python
❯ /usr/bin/python

Install python package manager pip, if it isn't already
sudo easy_install pip
❯ 

Use pip to install libxml into your system python
sudo pip install lxml
❯ Collecting lxml...

Fin.

Basically the problem is that Inkscape is hardcoded to use the system python build, to avoid conflicts with other python builds. But I presume in a recent update of OSX they have removed the libxml library from the system build.

Firstly I had to delete my homebrew install of python, it’s the same version (2.7.10) as the system build so no loss. Secondly, I needed to install pip to the system python using;
❯ sudo easy_install pip
Finally, I installed libxml to the system python install with;
❯ sudo pip install lxml

Hooray!

Thanks!