ImportError: Cannot open shared object file in Python

Question

I am trying to run a python script which depends on other modules, however I ran into this:

bash-3.2$ PYTHONPATH=/my/path/tables-2.3.1/build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/ ./fastcluster.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./fastcluster.py", line 5, in <module>
    import tables
  File "/my/path/tables-2.3.1/build/lib.linux-x86_64-2.7/tables/__init__.py", line 59, in <module>
    from tables.utilsExtension import getPyTablesVersion, getHDF5Version
ImportError: libhdf5.so.7: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
bash-3.2$ ls libhdf5.so.7
libhdf5.so.7
bash-3.2$

No such file or directory libhdf5.so.7 ? But when I 'ls' it, it's there, right in my directory. So what's going on here?

Answer 1

The loader isn't looking there. Either put it in one of the standard locations for libraries, add the directory to the loader configuration, or set $LD_LIBRARY_PATH before running Python.