No module named _sqlite3

Question

I am trying to run a Django app on my VPS running Debian 5. When I run a demo app, it comes back with this error:

  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/django/utils/importlib.py", line 35, in     import_module
    __import__(name)

  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/django/db/backends/sqlite3/base.py", line 30, in <module>
    raise ImproperlyConfigured, "Error loading %s: %s" % (module, exc)

ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading either pysqlite2 or sqlite3 modules (tried in that     order): No module named _sqlite3

Looking at the Python install, it gives the same error:

Python 2.5.2 (r252:60911, May 12 2009, 07:46:31) 
[GCC 4.1.2 20061115 (prerelease) (Debian 4.1.1-21)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import sqlite3
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.5/sqlite3/__init__.py", line 24, in <module>
    from dbapi2 import *
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.5/sqlite3/dbapi2.py", line 27, in <module>
    from _sqlite3 import *
ImportError: No module named _sqlite3
>>>

Reading on the web, I learn that Python 2.5 should come with all the necessary SQLite wrappers included. Do I need to reinstall Python, or is there another way to get this module up and running?

Answer 1

It seems your makefile didn't include the appropriate .so file. You can correct this problem with the steps below:

1. Install sqlite-devel (or libsqlite3-dev on some Debian-based systems)
2. Re-configure and re-compiled Python with ./configure --enable-loadable-sqlite-extensions && make && sudo make install

---

Note

The sudo make install part will set that python version to be the system-wide standard, which can have unforseen consequences. If you run this command on your workstation, you'll probably want to have it installed alongside the existing python, which can be done with sudo make altinstall.

Answer 2

I had the same problem (building python2.5 from source on Ubuntu Lucid), and import sqlite3 threw this same exception. I've installed libsqlite3-dev from the package manager, recompiled python2.5, and then the import worked.

Answer 3

I had the same problem with Python 3.5 on Ubuntu while using pyenv.

If you're installing the python using pyenv, it's listed as one of the common build problems. To solve it, remove the installed python version, install the requirements (for this particular case libsqlite3-dev), then reinstall the python version with

pyenv install <python-version> 

Then recreate virtualenv if needed.