Ubuntu 20.04.1 with python 3.8.2 Django 3.0 SyntaxError: invalid syntax except ImportError, e:

[lucamoli84]

I am having problems deploying my Django app (using Python 3.8.2) on a Ubuntu Server 20.04.1 LTS that uses MS SQL Server as its database. No issues reverting back to 'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3' on Linux but I have to be honest, it is frustrating.

I already had to downgrade to Django==3.0 to get my app working on my local windows pc but the 2 migrations I did proves that I am missing something and I hope someone can give me a hand. Any help is appreciated.

installed components:
pip freeze
asgiref==3.2.10
Django==3.0
django-mssql-backend==2.8.1
pyodbc==4.0.30
pytz==2020.1
sql-server.pyodbc==1.0
sqlparse==0.3.1

when I run the server I get a syntax error:

Watching for file changes with StatReloader
Exception in thread django-main-thread:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/threading.py", line 932, in _bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/threading.py", line 870, in run
    self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py", line 53, in wrapper
    fn(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py", line 109, in inner_run
    autoreload.raise_last_exception()
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py", line 76, in raise_last_exception
    raise _exception[1]
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 357, in execute
    autoreload.check_errors(django.setup)()
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py", line 53, in wrapper
    fn(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/__init__.py", line 24, in setup
    apps.populate(settings.INSTALLED_APPS)
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/apps/registry.py", line 114, in populate
    app_config.import_models()
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/apps/config.py", line 211, in import_models
    self.models_module = import_module(models_module_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1014, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 991, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 975, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 671, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 783, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/home/luca/app/MDM_SQLServer/cpus/models.py", line 6, in <module>
    from sites.models import Site
  File "/home/luca/app/MDM_SQLServer/sites/models.py", line 4, in <module>
    from wifis.models import Wifi
  File "/home/luca/app/MDM_SQLServer/wifis/models.py", line 3, in <module>
    class Wifi(models.Model):
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 121, in __new__
    new_class.add_to_class('_meta', Options(meta, app_label))
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 325, in add_to_class
    value.contribute_to_class(cls, name)
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/db/models/options.py", line 208, in contribute_to_class
    self.db_table = truncate_name(self.db_table, connection.ops.max_name_length())
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 28, in __getattr__
    return getattr(connections[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS], item)
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 207, in __getitem__
    backend = load_backend(db['ENGINE'])
  File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 111, in load_backend
    return import_module('%s.base' % backend_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  **File "/home/luca/app/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sql_server/pyodbc/base.py", line 7
    except ImportError, e:
                      ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax**

[ecogels]

It looks like something is wrong with your files.
https://github.com/ESSolutions/django-mssql-backend/blob/master/sql_server/pyodbc/base.py#L7

I would try to uninstall and reinstall this module.

[allieus]

except ImportError, e:

This is syntax of python2. You have installed the library for python2.