Django/Python Beginner: Error when executing python manage.py syncdb – psycopg2 not found
Question:
I have Pythong2.6, psycopg2 and pgAdmin3 installed using Macports. My settings.py is:
DATABASE_ENGINE = 'postgresql_psycopg2' # 'postgresql_psycopg2', 'postgresql', 'mysql', 'sqlite3' or 'oracle'.
DATABASE_NAME = 'mysite' # Or path to database file if using sqlite3.
DATABASE_USER = 'postgres' # Not used with sqlite3.
DATABASE_PASSWORD = '' # Not used with sqlite3.
DATABASE_HOST = '' # Set to empty string for localhost. Not used with sqlite3.
DATABASE_PORT = '' # Set to empty string for default. Not used with sqlite3.
The error I get when I run python manage.py syncdb is:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "manage.py", line 11, in <module>
execute_manager(settings)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 362, in execute_manager
utility.execute()
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 303, in execute
self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 195, in run_from_argv
self.execute(*args, **options.__dict__)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 221, in execute
self.validate()
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 249, in validate
num_errors = get_validation_errors(s, app)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/validation.py", line 22, in get_validation_errors
from django.db import models, connection
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 41, in <module>
backend = load_backend(settings.DATABASE_ENGINE)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 17, in load_backend
return import_module('.base', 'django.db.backends.%s' % backend_name)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/utils/importlib.py", line 35, in import_module
__import__(name)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/postgresql_psycopg2/base.py", line 22, in <module>
raise ImproperlyConfigured("Error loading psycopg2 module: %s" % e)
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading psycopg2 module: No module named psycopg2
Please note, I am a complete beginner in this stuff. I am originally a PHP-guy and trying out Python for a small personal project. Do I need to “turn on” Postgres?
Also, when I sudo python manage.py runserver 8080
I get this error:
Validating models...
Unhandled exception in thread started by <function inner_run at 0x1242670>
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py", line 48, in inner_run
self.validate(display_num_errors=True)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 249, in validate
num_errors = get_validation_errors(s, app)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/validation.py", line 22, in get_validation_errors
from django.db import models, connection
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 41, in <module>
backend = load_backend(settings.DATABASE_ENGINE)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 17, in load_backend
return import_module('.base', 'django.db.backends.%s' % backend_name)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/utils/importlib.py", line 35, in import_module
__import__(name)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/postgresql_psycopg2/base.py", line 22, in <module>
raise ImproperlyConfigured("Error loading psycopg2 module: %s" % e)
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading psycopg2 module: No module named psycopg2
Please guide me. Any reply will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Wenbert!
Answers:
Although you installed it, Python can apparently not find the module psycopg2. This is usually due to the module not being in Python’s path. See if you can find a folder named psycopg2 in /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages. If it’s not there, did MacPorts tell you where it put psycopg2? If you can locate it, just move it to the site-packages directory and you should be fine.
There seems to be a problem with your psycopg2 installation – Python does not find it. This is a Python installation problem, not a Django issue.
You can try to load it manually using the Python interpreter and see if it works:
$ python
>>> import psycopg2
If you get an ImportError exception, your installation is erroneous. To get a list of all directories Python looks for modules, use sys.path:
$ python
>>> import sys
>>> print sys.path
You can also add custom directories to Python’s module search path by modifying the sys.path variable. Do this somewhere before the respective import statement(s):
import sys
sys.path.append("my-path")
# ...
import psycopg2
For the record I got the same error for a different reason:
I had put
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql'
instead of
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2'
in settings.py
Tim’s answer worked for me too.
By default, settings.py shows options like ‘postgresql_psycopg2’, ‘mysql’, etc, without a package name. Prefixing with ‘django.db.backends.’ worked for me (for postgresql_psycopg2, at least).
Yes Tim’s answer works for me too.It works without prefix ‘django.db.backends.’ also. But remember to create database or schema you mentioned in settings.py:
DATABASE_NAME = 'your_db_name'
manually using your database client so when you run ‘python manage.py syncdb’ you don’t get the same problem. I was stuck because i didn’t create it manually. I got the same problem may be because I used buildout.
I got the same error, but it was because I was using python26 ./manage.py runserver when my virtualenv only had python and python2.6 executables (thus the system python26 was being used, which didn’t have psycopg2 installed
Follow the steps:
- Install python libraries on your OS:
python-devlibpq-dev
- Execute the command to install the
psycopg2 library:
easy_install psycopg2
If you have pip installed, simply install the missing extension by running:
$ pip install psycopg2
I realized I didn’t have psycopg2 installed
aptitude install python-psycopg2
Worked like a charm
For me, psycopg2 was indeed installed, but not into the virtualenv in which Django was running. These two steps fixed it:
sudo apt-get build-dep python-psycopg2
sudo /opt/myenv/bin/pip install psycopg2
I had this issue recently after updating homebrew on OSX.
psycopg2 was already listed in my virtualenv.
I just reinstalled psycopg2 and it worked again:
pip install --force-reinstall psycopg2
I’m on Windows and had installed psycopg2, but the 64 bit version. So my fix was to download the 32 bit one from here then in PowerShell with my virtual environment activated, my fix was:
pip uninstall psycopg2
easy_install C:WHEREVER_I_DOWNLOADED_ITpsycopg2-2.6.1.win32-py3.4-pg9.4.4-release.exe
(The Windows Python 3.4 installer automatically installs easy_install and pip, and pip is the easiest way to remove the package, even if originally installed using easy_install.)
THIS HAS HELPED ME:
I just added PostgreSQL bin path to ENV and it was able to fine the needed dll:
C:Program Files (x86)PostgreSQL9.4bin
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/robotframework-users/qLq9KvHe1wE
same here, but maybe it was missed in current project, so I navigated to the main project directory and installed it.
pip install psycopg2
and it worked
You can get this error in heroku deployment with django postgresql as backend simply add psycopg2 to your requirements.txt file
This error also occurs when you forgot to activate your virtual environment.
Using Django 3.2.9 with Python 3.9.1, after pip3 install psycopg2, this is what I had to do in order to get the initial python manage.py migrate to work:
In my Django site’s settings.py file, I added these lines to the top of the file (after the from pathlib import Path line):
import sys
sys.path.append('Users/MY_USER_NAME/Sites/SITE_NAME/env/lib/python3.9/site-packages')
Sorry… a ~/Sites/... path setting doesn’t work (I tried), it needs to be an absolute, full path.
My Database settings are as follows:
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
'NAME': 'DATABASE_NAME',
'USER': os.getenv('PG_USER'),
'PASSWORD': os.getenv('PG_PASS'),
'PORT': '5432',
'USE_TZ': True,
}
}
Once I added the two lines to the top of the settings.py file, the migration ran successfully 🙂
For the module not found errors, usually a good
pip install module_name
Will solve the problem. If it’s not the case look for the binary of the module you are trying to install. Install the binary then install the module again. Example for this case the module is
psycopg2
Binary is psychopg2-binary so
Install them like this
pip install psycopg2-binary
pip install psycopg2
I am getting the same issue as above shown in the query part. I resolved it by using pip install psycopg2-binary instead of pip install psycopg2 or pip3 install psycopg2.
I have Pythong2.6, psycopg2 and pgAdmin3 installed using Macports. My settings.py is:
DATABASE_ENGINE = 'postgresql_psycopg2' # 'postgresql_psycopg2', 'postgresql', 'mysql', 'sqlite3' or 'oracle'.
DATABASE_NAME = 'mysite' # Or path to database file if using sqlite3.
DATABASE_USER = 'postgres' # Not used with sqlite3.
DATABASE_PASSWORD = '' # Not used with sqlite3.
DATABASE_HOST = '' # Set to empty string for localhost. Not used with sqlite3.
DATABASE_PORT = '' # Set to empty string for default. Not used with sqlite3.
The error I get when I run python manage.py syncdb is:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "manage.py", line 11, in <module>
execute_manager(settings)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 362, in execute_manager
utility.execute()
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 303, in execute
self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 195, in run_from_argv
self.execute(*args, **options.__dict__)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 221, in execute
self.validate()
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 249, in validate
num_errors = get_validation_errors(s, app)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/validation.py", line 22, in get_validation_errors
from django.db import models, connection
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 41, in <module>
backend = load_backend(settings.DATABASE_ENGINE)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 17, in load_backend
return import_module('.base', 'django.db.backends.%s' % backend_name)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/utils/importlib.py", line 35, in import_module
__import__(name)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/postgresql_psycopg2/base.py", line 22, in <module>
raise ImproperlyConfigured("Error loading psycopg2 module: %s" % e)
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading psycopg2 module: No module named psycopg2
Please note, I am a complete beginner in this stuff. I am originally a PHP-guy and trying out Python for a small personal project. Do I need to “turn on” Postgres?
Also, when I sudo python manage.py runserver 8080
I get this error:
Validating models...
Unhandled exception in thread started by <function inner_run at 0x1242670>
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py", line 48, in inner_run
self.validate(display_num_errors=True)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 249, in validate
num_errors = get_validation_errors(s, app)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/validation.py", line 22, in get_validation_errors
from django.db import models, connection
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 41, in <module>
backend = load_backend(settings.DATABASE_ENGINE)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 17, in load_backend
return import_module('.base', 'django.db.backends.%s' % backend_name)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/utils/importlib.py", line 35, in import_module
__import__(name)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/postgresql_psycopg2/base.py", line 22, in <module>
raise ImproperlyConfigured("Error loading psycopg2 module: %s" % e)
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading psycopg2 module: No module named psycopg2
Please guide me. Any reply will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Wenbert!
Although you installed it, Python can apparently not find the module psycopg2. This is usually due to the module not being in Python’s path. See if you can find a folder named psycopg2 in /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/site-packages. If it’s not there, did MacPorts tell you where it put psycopg2? If you can locate it, just move it to the site-packages directory and you should be fine.
There seems to be a problem with your psycopg2 installation – Python does not find it. This is a Python installation problem, not a Django issue.
You can try to load it manually using the Python interpreter and see if it works:
$ python
>>> import psycopg2
If you get an ImportError exception, your installation is erroneous. To get a list of all directories Python looks for modules, use sys.path:
$ python
>>> import sys
>>> print sys.path
You can also add custom directories to Python’s module search path by modifying the sys.path variable. Do this somewhere before the respective import statement(s):
import sys
sys.path.append("my-path")
# ...
import psycopg2
For the record I got the same error for a different reason:
I had put
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql'
instead of
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2'
in settings.py
Tim’s answer worked for me too.
By default, settings.py shows options like ‘postgresql_psycopg2’, ‘mysql’, etc, without a package name. Prefixing with ‘django.db.backends.’ worked for me (for postgresql_psycopg2, at least).
Yes Tim’s answer works for me too.It works without prefix ‘django.db.backends.’ also. But remember to create database or schema you mentioned in settings.py:
DATABASE_NAME = 'your_db_name'
manually using your database client so when you run ‘python manage.py syncdb’ you don’t get the same problem. I was stuck because i didn’t create it manually. I got the same problem may be because I used buildout.
I got the same error, but it was because I was using python26 ./manage.py runserver when my virtualenv only had python and python2.6 executables (thus the system python26 was being used, which didn’t have psycopg2 installed
Follow the steps:
- Install python libraries on your OS:
python-devlibpq-dev
- Execute the command to install the
psycopg2library:easy_install psycopg2
If you have pip installed, simply install the missing extension by running:
$ pip install psycopg2
I realized I didn’t have psycopg2 installed
aptitude install python-psycopg2
Worked like a charm
For me, psycopg2 was indeed installed, but not into the virtualenv in which Django was running. These two steps fixed it:
sudo apt-get build-dep python-psycopg2
sudo /opt/myenv/bin/pip install psycopg2
I had this issue recently after updating homebrew on OSX.
psycopg2 was already listed in my virtualenv.
I just reinstalled psycopg2 and it worked again:
pip install --force-reinstall psycopg2
I’m on Windows and had installed psycopg2, but the 64 bit version. So my fix was to download the 32 bit one from here then in PowerShell with my virtual environment activated, my fix was:
pip uninstall psycopg2
easy_install C:WHEREVER_I_DOWNLOADED_ITpsycopg2-2.6.1.win32-py3.4-pg9.4.4-release.exe
(The Windows Python 3.4 installer automatically installs easy_install and pip, and pip is the easiest way to remove the package, even if originally installed using easy_install.)
THIS HAS HELPED ME:
I just added PostgreSQL bin path to ENV and it was able to fine the needed dll:
C:Program Files (x86)PostgreSQL9.4bin
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/robotframework-users/qLq9KvHe1wE
same here, but maybe it was missed in current project, so I navigated to the main project directory and installed it.
pip install psycopg2
and it worked
You can get this error in heroku deployment with django postgresql as backend simply add psycopg2 to your requirements.txt file
This error also occurs when you forgot to activate your virtual environment.
Using Django 3.2.9 with Python 3.9.1, after pip3 install psycopg2, this is what I had to do in order to get the initial python manage.py migrate to work:
In my Django site’s settings.py file, I added these lines to the top of the file (after the from pathlib import Path line):
import sys
sys.path.append('Users/MY_USER_NAME/Sites/SITE_NAME/env/lib/python3.9/site-packages')
Sorry… a ~/Sites/... path setting doesn’t work (I tried), it needs to be an absolute, full path.
My Database settings are as follows:
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
'NAME': 'DATABASE_NAME',
'USER': os.getenv('PG_USER'),
'PASSWORD': os.getenv('PG_PASS'),
'PORT': '5432',
'USE_TZ': True,
}
}
Once I added the two lines to the top of the settings.py file, the migration ran successfully 🙂
For the module not found errors, usually a good
pip install module_name
Will solve the problem. If it’s not the case look for the binary of the module you are trying to install. Install the binary then install the module again. Example for this case the module is
psycopg2
Binary is psychopg2-binary so
Install them like this
pip install psycopg2-binary
pip install psycopg2
I am getting the same issue as above shown in the query part. I resolved it by using pip install psycopg2-binary instead of pip install psycopg2 or pip3 install psycopg2.