common-error-messages.rst

Common error messages

Whether a developer runs CKAN using paster or going through CKAN test suite, there are a number of error messages seen that are the result of setup problems. As people experience them, please add them to the list here.

These instructions assume you have the python virtual environment enabled (. pyenv/bin/activate) and the current directory is the top of the ckan source, which is probably: ../pyenv/src/ckan/.

ConfigError

nose.config.ConfigError: Error reading config file 'setup.cfg': no such option 'with-pylons'

This error can result when you run nosetests for two reasons:

1. Pylons nose plugin failed to run. If this is the case, then within a couple of lines of running nosetests you'll see this warning: Unable to load plugin pylons followed by an error message. Fix the error here first`.

2. The Python module 'Pylons' is not installed into you Python environment. Confirm this with:

   python -c "import pylons"

OperationalError

OperationalError: (OperationalError) no such function: plainto_tsquery ...

This error usually results from running a test which involves search functionality, which requires using a PostgreSQL database, but another (such as SQLite) is configured. The particular test is either missing a @search_related decorator or there is a mixup with the test configuration files leading to the wrong database being used.

ImportError

ImportError: No module named worker

The python entry point for the worker has not been generated. This occurs during the 'pip install' of the CKAN source, and needs to be done again if switching from older code that didn't have it. To recitify it:

python setup.py egg_info

ImportError: cannot import name get_backend

This can be caused by an out of date pyc file. Delete all your pyc files and start again:

find . -name "*.pyc" | xargs rm

ImportError: cannot import name UnicodeMultiDict

This is caused by using a version of WebOb that is too new (it has deprecated UnicodeMultiDict). Check the version like this (ensure you have activated your python environment first):

pip freeze | grep -i webob

Now install the version specified in requires/lucid_present.txt. e.g.:

pip install webob==1.0.8

ImportError: No module named exceptions

This occurs when trying to import migrate.exceptions and is due to the version of sqlalchemy-migrate being used is too old - check the requires files for the version needed.

ImportError: No module named genshi.template

This is seen when running a paster command. The problem is paster is not recognising the python virtual environment where genshi (and other CKAN libraries) are installed. To resolve this, supply the path to the copy of paster in the virtual environment. e.g.:

pyenv/bin/paster ...

nosetests

nosetests: error: no such option: --ckan

Nose is either unable to find ckan/ckan_nose_plugin.py in the python environment it is running in, or there is an error loading it. If there is an error, this will surface it:

nosetests --version

There are a few things to try to remedy this:

Commonly this is because the nosetests isn't running in the python environment. You need to have nose actually installed in the python environment. To see which you are running, do this:

which nosetests

If you have activated the environment and this still reports /usr/bin/nosetests then you need to:

pip install --ignore-installed nose

If nose --version still fails, ensure that ckan is installed in your environment:

cd pyenv/src/ckan
python setup.py develop

One final check - the version of nose should be at least 1.0. Check with:

pip freeze | grep -i nose

AttributeError

AttributeError: 'unicode' object has no attribute 'items' (Cookie.py)

This can be caused by using repoze.who version 1.0.18 when 1.0.19 is required. Check what you have with:

pip freeze | grep -i repoze.who=

See what version you need with:

grep -f requires/*.txt |grep repoze\.who=

Then install the version you need (having activated the environment):

pip install repoze.who==1.0.19

AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'BigInteger'

The sqlalchemy module version is too old.

NoSectionError

ConfigParser.NoSectionError: No section: 'formatters'

This suggests that the config file specified with the paster --config parameter (e.g. myconfig.ini) is incorrectly formatted. This may be true, but this error is also printed if you specify an incorrect filename for the config file!

PluginNotFoundException

ckan.plugins.core.PluginNotFoundException: stats

After the CKAN 1.5.1 release, the Stats and Storage extensions were merged into the core CKAN code, and the ckanext namespace needs registering before the tests will run:

cd pyenv/src/ckan
python setup.py develop

Otherwise, this problem may be because of specifying an extension in the CKAN config but having not installed it. See: extensions.

AssertionError

AssertionError: There is no script for 46 version

This sort of message may be seen if you swap between different branches of CKAN. The .pyc file for database migration 46 exists, but the .py file no longer exists by swapping to an earlier branch. The solution is to delete all pyc files (which is harmless):

find . -name "*.pyc" |xargs rm

AssertionError: Unexpected files/directories in pyenv/src/ckan

This occurs when installing CKAN source to a virtual environment when using an old version of pip. (e.g. pip 0.3.1 which comes with Ubuntu). Instead you should use pip 1.0.2 or higher, which will be found in your virtual environment: pyenv/bin/pip

IntegrityError

sqlalchemy.exc.IntegrityError: (IntegrityError) could not create unique index "user_name_key

This occurs when upgrading to CKAN 1.5.1 with a database with duplicate user names. See upgrading

ERROR

ERROR: must be member of role "okfn" & WARNING: no privileges could be revoked for "public"

These are seen when loading a CKAN database from another machine. It is the result of the database tables being owned by a user that doesn't exist on the new machine. The owner of the table is not important, so this error is harmless and can be ignored.

IOError

IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/ckan/colorado/colorado.log'

This is usually seen when you run the paster command with one user, and CKAN is deployed on Apache (for example) which runs as another user. The usual remedy is to run the paster command as user www-data. i.e..:

sudo -u www-data paster ...

Type does not exist

type "geometry" does not exist (also function public.multipolygonfromtext(text) does not exist permission denied for language c)

This may occur when you are using psql or paster db load. It means that the database dump was taken from a Postgres database that was spatially enabled (PostGIS installed) and you are loading it into one that is not.

To make your Postgres cluster spatially enabled, see the instructions here: https://github.com/okfn/ckanext-spatial/blob/master/README.rst