Downloads fail on Windows with Python 2.7.13

[raygard]

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Make sure you are using the latest version: run youtube-dl --version and ensure your version is 2016.12.22. If it's not read this FAQ entry and update. Issues with outdated version will be rejected.

• [X ] I've verified and I assure that I'm running youtube-dl 2016.12.22

Before submitting an issue make sure you have:

• [X ] At least skimmed through README and most notably FAQ and BUGS sections
• [X ] Searched the bugtracker for similar issues including closed ones

What is the purpose of your issue?

• Bug report (encountered problems with youtube-dl)
• Site support request (request for adding support for a new site)
• Feature request (request for a new functionality)
• Question
• Other

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The following sections concretize particular purposed issues, you can erase any section (the contents between triple ---) not applicable to your issue

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If the purpose of this issue is a bug report, site support request or you are not completely sure provide the full verbose output as follows:

Add -v flag to your command line you run youtube-dl with, copy the whole output and insert it here. It should look similar to one below (replace it with your log inserted between triple ```):

21:14:47.44 ++c:\s\yt>c:\Python27\Scripts\youtube-dl.exe -v
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "c:\python27\lib\runpy.py", line 174, in _run_module_as_main
    "__main__", fname, loader, pkg_name)
  File "c:\python27\lib\runpy.py", line 72, in _run_code
    exec code in run_globals
  File "c:\Python27\Scripts\youtube-dl.exe\__main__.py", line 9, in <module>
  File "c:\python27\lib\site-packages\youtube_dl\__init__.py", line 444, in main
    _real_main(argv)
  File "c:\python27\lib\site-packages\youtube_dl\__init__.py", line 56, in _real_main
    setproctitle('youtube-dl')
  File "c:\python27\lib\site-packages\youtube_dl\utils.py", line 1665, in setproctitle
    libc = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary('libc.so.6')
  File "c:\python27\lib\ctypes\__init__.py", line 440, in LoadLibrary
    return self._dlltype(name)
  File "c:\python27\lib\ctypes\__init__.py", line 362, in __init__
    self._handle = _dlopen(self._name, mode)
TypeError: LoadLibrary() argument 1 must be string, not unicode

21:15:32.69 ++c:\s\yt>

(Note this fails before any [debug] output)

If the purpose of this issue is a site support request please provide all kinds of example URLs support for which should be included (replace following example URLs by yours):

• Single video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc
• Single video: https://youtu.be/BaW_jenozKc
• Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4lCao7KL_QFVb7Iudeipvc2BCavECqzc

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Description of your issue, suggested solution and other information

In Python 2.7.13, the Windows version of LoadLibrary requires a string, not a unicode arg. This is due to a change in Python-2.7.12\Modules_ctypes\callproc.c vs. Python-2.7.13\Modules_ctypes\callproc.c:
In:
static PyObject *load_library(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
there is this change (from 2.7.12 to 2.7.13):
1280c1284
< if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O|O:LoadLibrary", &nameobj, &ignored))
---
> if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "S|O:LoadLibrary", &nameobj, &ignored))

I was going to propose just changing:
libc = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary('libc.so.6')
to:
libc = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(b'libc.so.6')
in utils.py, which does fix the TypeError, but I find that this TypeError does not occur under Python 3.6.0, apparently because callproc.c in 3.6.0 does not have the change shown above. Since this call to LoadLibrary() should fail under Windows anyway, maybe the correct fix is to have setproctitle() in utils.py just return if the LoadLibrary() raises either TypeError or OSError.

Is is correct under either Python 2 or 3 to pass a unicode string to LoadLibrary() in either Windows or Posix? Should b'libc.so.6' be used in all cases (Windows, Posix/Linux, Python 2 or 3)? I note that in Linux (Posix) environment, the LoadLibrary() call goes to py_dl_open() instead of load_library(), and it also does not have the "S" typecheck in 2.7.13 or in 3.6.0.

[yan12125]

Thanks for the report and detailed investigation. I hope it fixed upstream and filed http://bugs.python.org/issue29082

[yan12125]

Here's a summary:

Version	_ctypes.dlopen()	_ctypes.LoadLibrary()
2.7.12	S & U	S & U
2.7.13	S & U	S
3.x	S & U	U

Here S and U indicate bytes and unicode objects, respectively.

[yan12125]

Fixed in CPython - https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/4ce22d69e134

This issue can be closed if Python 2.7.14 is released, which is likely to happen in mid-2017. See https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0373/. Before that please downgrade to 2.7.12.

[wiiaboo]

I can reproduce this TypeError with 2.7.12 too. I didn't completely clean the previous 2.7.13 installation (only uninstalled) before installing 2.7.12 so it might have been due to that. Why not just str() the string so it always uses the native type with both Python 2 and 3?

[yan12125]

Works for me with 2.7.12:

G:\Projects\youtube-dl>C:\Python27\python.exe -m youtube_dl -v
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: [u'-v']
[debug] Encodings: locale cp950, fs mbcs, out cp950, pref cp950
[debug] youtube-dl version 2017.02.11
[debug] Python version 2.7.12 - Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
[debug] exe versions: none
[debug] Proxy map: {}
Usage: __main__.py [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]

__main__.py: error: You must provide at least one URL.
Type youtube-dl --help to see a list of all options.

I didn't completely clean the previous 2.7.13 installation (only uninstalled) before installing 2.7.12 so it might have been due to that

Maybe. If that's really the case, Python's installer has bugs.

Why not just str() the string so it always uses the native type with both Python 2 and 3?

I seldom boot into Windows and don't have so much time on testing all Python versions before commiting changes. If you have a patch working for all Python versions, feel free to open a pull request.

[yan12125]

Reopening. That workaround can be removed as 2.7.14 released.

[wiiaboo]

Uh, where was it released?

[yan12125]

It's not released yet. I omit the verb "is".

[raygard]

To wiiaboo and yan12125, thank you both for working on this. wiiaboo, thank you for submitting the workaround I originally suggested. This bug report is my first effort on GitHub, and it is gratifying to see it working. I am not yet confident enough to fork and make a pull request.

[raygard]

See, I don't even know what I'm doing when I "close" an issue! Sorry.