ImportError: No module named 'IPython.utils.colorable'

[astrofrog]

If I create a clean conda environment with:

$ conda create -n minimal-ipython-2 python=3.5 ipykernel
Using Anaconda Cloud api site https://api.anaconda.org
Fetching package metadata: ....
Solving package specifications: .........

Package plan for installation in environment /Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipython-2:

The following NEW packages will be INSTALLED:

    appnope:           0.1.0-py35_0 
    backports:         1.0-py35_0   
    decorator:         4.0.10-py35_0
    get_terminal_size: 1.0.0-py35_0 
    ipykernel:         4.3.1-py35_0 
    ipython:           4.2.0-py35_1 
    ipython_genutils:  0.1.0-py35_0 
    jupyter_client:    4.3.0-py35_0 
    jupyter_core:      4.1.0-py35_0 
    openssl:           1.0.2h-1     
    path.py:           8.2.1-py35_0 
    pexpect:           4.0.1-py35_0 
    pickleshare:       0.7.2-py35_0 
    pip:               8.1.2-py35_0 
    ptyprocess:        0.5.1-py35_0 
    python:            3.5.1-5      
    python.app:        1.2-py35_4   
    pyzmq:             15.2.0-py35_1
    readline:          6.2-2        
    setuptools:        23.0.0-py35_0
    simplegeneric:     0.8.1-py35_1 
    sqlite:            3.13.0-0     
    tk:                8.5.18-0     
    tornado:           4.3-py35_1   
    traitlets:         4.2.1-py35_0 
    wheel:             0.29.0-py35_0
    xz:                5.2.2-0      
    zlib:              1.2.8-3      

...
$ source activate minimal-ipython-2
discarding /Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipykernel/bin from PATH
prepending /Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipython-2/bin to PATH

I get the following import error:

$ python -c 'from ipykernel.kernelapp import IPKernelApp'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipython-2/lib/python3.5/site-packages/ipykernel/__init__.py", line 2, in <module>
    from .connect import *
  File "/Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipython-2/lib/python3.5/site-packages/ipykernel/connect.py", line 13, in <module>
    from IPython.core.profiledir import ProfileDir
  File "/Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipython-2/lib/python3.5/site-packages/IPython/__init__.py", line 48, in <module>
    from .core.application import Application
  File "/Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipython-2/lib/python3.5/site-packages/IPython/core/application.py", line 24, in <module>
    from IPython.core import release, crashhandler
  File "/Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipython-2/lib/python3.5/site-packages/IPython/core/crashhandler.py", line 28, in <module>
    from IPython.core import ultratb
  File "/Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipython-2/lib/python3.5/site-packages/IPython/core/ultratb.py", line 117, in <module>
    from IPython.core import debugger
  File "/Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipython-2/lib/python3.5/site-packages/IPython/core/debugger.py", line 35, in <module>
    from IPython.utils import PyColorize, ulinecache
  File "/Users/tom/miniconda3/envs/minimal-ipython-2/lib/python3.5/site-packages/IPython/utils/PyColorize.py", line 57, in <module>
    from .colorable import Colorable
ImportError: No module named 'IPython.utils.colorable'

Is there a missing dependency?

[takluyver]

In another environment, you've overwritten the ipython conda package with a newer IPython installed another way, e.g. from pip. Because conda uses hardlinks to save space, files that were overwritten affect all environments with that version of IPython installed, while files that were added are only added to the environment where you installed it. So you have an incomplete installation of IPython in that env.

Simplest workaround: conda uninstall ipython and pip install ipython.

[astrofrog]

@takluyver - ok, thanks - I think I must indeed have installed the ipython 5.0.0b1 release to try it out in another environment.

[talkaminker]

For future users who have this problem:
conda remove ipython - will uninstall ipython
conda clean -p - will clean the cached packages (with pip ruined)
conda install ipython will redownload the package and properly install it
running all 3 fixed the problem for me

[pglezen]

The tip from @talkaminker got me going for my Mac at home. I experienced the same problem with my work Mac. Instead of removing and reinstalling ipython, I tried

conda update ipykernel

since ipykernel is the name of this repo. I received the message

ipykernel: 4.3.1-py35_0 --> 4.6.1-py35_0

and jupyter notebook worked fine after that (no more

ImportError: No module named 'IPython.utils.warn'
[W 10:31:19.814 NotebookApp] KernelRestarter: restart failed

errors).

[piprads]

Thanks @pglezen. This helps.

The other suggestion didn't work for me on my mac.

[keflavich]

I don't know how I broke this differently from others, but I was unable to get ipython to work at all with conda after rm -r'ing site-packages/ipython* (bad move).

I had to remove all traces of ipython then pip installing both ipython and ipython_genutils.

[jianning-li]

@pglezen
it helped !thank you so much. :-) . I almost went crazy with this mysterious problem until I came across your solution