ipdb is triggering ImportError

Question

ipdb is triggering an import error for me when I run my Django site locally. I'm working on Python 2.7 and within a virtual environment.

which ipdb shows the path (/usr/local/bin/ipdb), as does which ipython, which surprised me since I thought it should show my venv path (but shouldn't it work if it's global, anyway?). So I tried pip install --target=/path/to/venv ipdb and now it shows up in pip freeze (which it didn't before) but still gives me an import error.

which pip gives /Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/bin/pip/

My path: /Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/bin:/Users/myname/.venvburrito/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Users/myname/bin:/usr/local/bin

Sys.path: '/Users/myname/Dropbox/myenv', '/Users/myname/.venvburrito/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pip-1.4.1-py2.7.egg', '/Users/myname/.venvburrito/lib/python2.7/site-packages', '/Users/myname/.venvburrito/lib/python2.7/site-packages/setuptools-8.2-py2.7.egg', '/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python27.zip', '/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7', '/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/plat-darwin', '/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/plat-mac', '/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages', '/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/Extras/lib/python', '/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/lib-tk', '/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/lib-old', '/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-darwin', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/lib-tk', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-mac', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages', '/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/site-packages']

If I run ipdb from the terminal, it works fine. I've tried restarting my terminal.

Stacktrace:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py", line 149, in get_response
    response = self.process_exception_by_middleware(e, request)
  File "/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py", line 147, in get_response
    response = wrapped_callback(request, *callback_args, **callback_kwargs)
  File "/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/views/generic/base.py", line 68, in view
    return self.dispatch(request, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/views/generic/base.py", line 88, in dispatch
    return handler(request, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/myname/.virtualenvs/myenv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/views/generic/base.py", line 157, in get
    context = self.get_context_data(**kwargs)
  File "/Users/myname/Dropbox/blog/views.py", line 22, in get_context_data
    import ipdb; ipdb.set_trace()
ImportError: No module named ipdb

Inside your `venv`, try to update the libs: `pip install -U ipdb ipython` — Mauro Baraldi, May 16 '16 at 14:06
What does `which ipdb` says now after installing it in your venv? — Paulo Bu, May 22 '16 at 16:00
While inside the env, try doing a `pip uninstall` and then reinstall it — Ben, May 22 '16 at 16:35
Just a standard `import ipdb; ipdb.set_trace()` within one of my functions. — thumbtackthief, May 22 '16 at 22:38
Can you include the traceback in your question? Perhaps it's looking for something else? Did you get ipython installed in your env? — Ben, May 22 '16 at 22:44
I can't help with why it's failing, but if you just need an ipdb, you can also do it this way: `import IPython.core.debugger as dbg; ipdb = dbg.Pdb()` (or `ipdb = dbg.Pdb(color_scheme='Linux')`)... — Corley Brigman, May 23 '16 at 14:05
also, first thing I usually do in these situations is dump out `sys.path` in the passing and failing configs. — Corley Brigman, May 23 '16 at 15:50
Maybe trying to `pip install ipython` from within your venv. For some reason, it doesn't find ipdb lib in your venv. Another way to debug this is running the django shell and see if you can `import ipdb;`. — Paulo Bu, May 24 '16 at 06:44

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 24 '16 at 20:36

I just set up a whole virtual env just to try this out because it must be a simple fix. I managed to set up ipdb in my virtual env and I will write what I did step by step.

$ virtualenv foo
$ cd foo
$ source ./bin/activate  # activate venv

... at this point which python and which pip gives me the right python executable inside my virtual env. Then next:

(venv: foo)$ pip install ipython

At this point, which ipython gives me the right ipython executable inside my virtual env. It's important to make sure that it points to the right executables, if it doesn't show the right executable, but the global one, re-activate your virtual env. It is crucial that ipython (and all your executables) point to the right executables inside your virtualenv.

Then I'm gonna try importing ipdb:

(venv: foo)$ ipython
In [1]: import ipdb
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ImportError                               Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-1-2d6f026194dd> in <module>()
----> 1 import ipdb

ImportError: No module named 'ipdb'

Module not found, because it hasn't been installed yet. Let's do it:

(venv: foo)$ pip install ipdb

and try it again:

(venv: foo)$ ipython                                                                                                          [ 16-05-24 22:28 ]
Python 3.5.1 (default, Jan 29 2016, 19:58:36) 
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

IPython 4.2.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python.
?         -> Introduction and overview of IPython's features.
%quickref -> Quick reference.
help      -> Python's own help system.
object?   -> Details about 'object', use 'object??' for extra details.

In [1]: import ipdb

In [2]:

It seems to work for me. I was using zsh and python3 but it shouldn't matter. Your issue is most likely that it's not being installed in the right places, meaning is using global executables instead of the ones from the virtualenv.

From within my virtualenv you could see that ipdb is installed:

(venv: foo)$ find . -name ipdb
./lib/python3.5/site-packages/ipdb

I hope all this write up helps :)

Something weird is happening. `ipython` was following the global path, not my venv. I uninstalled it and re-installed it in my venv, then I got the error that `No module named traitlets.config.application`. So I had to reinstall traitlets. Then the same thing with `ipython_genutils`. It's like it's missing all the dependencies. I'm not sure what's happening. — thumbtackthief, May 25 '16 at 00:52
@thumbtackthief I see, it looks like your venv might be a little unstable. Have you tried reinstall all the packages in it? it shouldn't be hard if you have a requirements file or you can even get it with `pip freeze`. Btw, reinstall ipython_genutils too, from what I see in my terminal is kind of the last dependency :) — Paulo Bu, May 25 '16 at 08:51
The problem was an outdated venv-burrito (which I should have included in my question but didn't think of). You got me on the right track though--thanks and enjoy your bounty! — thumbtackthief, May 25 '16 at 12:26

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 25 '16 at 12:26

1

I was using virtualenv-burrito. Deleting my venv, updating burrito (virtualenv-burrito upgrade) and making a new virtual environment fixed the problem.

answered May 25 '16 at 12:26

thumbtackthief

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ipdb is triggering ImportError

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