Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding #42966

New Issue

Bob Kuczewski · 2014-12-20T00:04:24+01:00

Bob Kuczewski commented

2014-12-20 00:04:24 +01:00

System Information
Linux

Blender Version
Broken: 2.72, 2014-12-10 16:04 Hash: d7e4944

Short description of error
When run from another directory, blender fails to run.

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error
Create a symbolic link to blender in another location in user's path (such as ~/bin).
Run blender via that link.
Blender will flash a window frame for a fraction of a second with this error message:

user:~/proj/MCell/cellblender_git$ blender273tb1 &

6046

user:~/proj/MCell/cellblender_git$ Color management: using fallback mode for management
connect failed: No such file or directory
BLF_lang_init: 'locale' data path for translations not found, continuing
Read new prefs: ~/.config/blender/2.72/config/userpref.blend
Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding
ImportError: No module named 'encodings'

Note that upon searching for the error, I found a post at BlenderArtists describing a similar problem in 2.61:

 http://blenderartists.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-240278.html

The poster (Arnaud) solved a similar problem by running from Blender's installation directory. This worked in my case as well.

**System Information** Linux **Blender Version** Broken: 2.72, 2014-12-10 16:04 Hash: d7e4944 **Short description of error** When run from another directory, blender fails to run. **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** Create a symbolic link to blender in another location in user's path (such as ~/bin). Run blender via that link. Blender will flash a window frame for a fraction of a second with this error message: ``` user:~/proj/MCell/cellblender_git$ blender273tb1 & ``` - [x] 6046 ``` user:~/proj/MCell/cellblender_git$ Color management: using fallback mode for management connect failed: No such file or directory BLF_lang_init: 'locale' data path for translations not found, continuing Read new prefs: ~/.config/blender/2.72/config/userpref.blend Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding ImportError: No module named 'encodings' ``` Note that upon searching for the error, I found a post at BlenderArtists describing a similar problem in 2.61: ``` http://blenderartists.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-240278.html ``` The poster (Arnaud) solved a similar problem by running from Blender's installation directory. This worked in my case as well.

Bob Kuczewski commented

2014-12-20 00:04:24 +01:00

Changed status to: 'Open'

Bob Kuczewski commented

2014-12-20 00:04:24 +01:00

Added subscriber: @BlenderHawk-1

Julian Eisel commented

2014-12-20 02:06:07 +01:00

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Archived'

Julian Eisel closed this issue

2014-12-20 02:06:07 +01:00

Julian Eisel self-assigned this 2014-12-20 02:06:07 +01:00

Julian Eisel commented

2014-12-20 02:06:07 +01:00

Added subscriber: @mont29

Julian Eisel commented

2014-12-20 02:06:07 +01:00

Hey Bob,
This is a well known and expected issue. AFAIK this happens because Blender can't find python. So first make sure you've got Python 3.4 installed (think it should be in PATH too). @mont29 correct me if I'm wrong ;)

Anyway, thanks for the report, but no real Blender related bug here :)

Hey Bob, This is a well known and expected issue. AFAIK this happens because Blender can't find python. So first make sure you've got Python 3.4 installed (think it should be in PATH too). @mont29 correct me if I'm wrong ;) Anyway, thanks for the report, but no real Blender related bug here :)

Bob Kuczewski commented

2014-12-20 03:30:28 +01:00

Hello Julian,

Unless I'm mistaken (which is certainly possible), I'm pretty sure this worked properly in 2.72 and all earlier versions back to 2.62 (when I started using Blender).

Would you mind checking again just to be sure?

Thanks.
Bob

Hello Julian, Unless I'm mistaken (which is certainly possible), I'm pretty sure this worked properly in 2.72 and all earlier versions back to 2.62 (when I started using Blender). Would you mind checking again just to be sure? Thanks. Bob

Bastien Montagne commented

2014-12-20 13:02:35 +01:00

Added subscriber: @MartijnBerger

Bastien Montagne commented

2014-12-20 13:02:35 +01:00

This is not related to python being installed or not I think, iirc current blender is rather picky on Windows, because we had to add a 'blender launcher' to work around a bug in py/msvc2013, a simplistic app that sets a few environment variables before starting the real blender, and so trying to launch blender from shortcuts or so is not easy...

Martijn knows better the details, but afaik there is no bug here.

This is not related to python being installed or not I think, iirc current blender is rather picky on Windows, because we had to add a 'blender launcher' to work around a bug in py/msvc2013, a simplistic app that sets a few environment variables before starting the real blender, and so trying to launch blender from shortcuts or so is not easy... Martijn knows better the details, but afaik there is no bug here.

Julian Eisel commented

2014-12-20 15:00:59 +01:00

@mont29, Report says he's using Linux
I just remember I had a similar issue (also Linux), which was fixed by installing the right Python version (3.4)

@mont29, Report says he's using Linux I just remember I had a similar issue (also Linux), which was fixed by installing the right Python version (3.4)

Bastien Montagne commented

2014-12-20 16:01:18 +01:00

Eeeek right :/

But thing is, python is distributed with our releases, so there should ba absolutely no need to install it.

Eeeek right :/ But thing is, python is distributed with our releases, so there should ba absolutely no need to install it.

Julian Eisel commented

2014-12-20 16:08:56 +01:00

well, maybe Python cannot be found using symbolic links

Bob Kuczewski commented

2014-12-20 21:57:52 +01:00

I think Python is bundled into Blender, so there should be no need to install a separate version.

Furthermore, it has worked without fail in all versions I've used: 2.62, 2.64a, 2.65a, 2.66, 2.66a, 2.68a, 2.69, 2.70, 2.70a, 2.71, 2.72b. I've only had problems in 2.73 (2.73-testbuild1-linux-glibc211-x86_64).

In all cases, I've installed (unzipped) the tar.bz2 file into a subfolder in my directory tree (/home/bob/Blender/downloads). I then place a symbolic link from my own "bin" directory to the binary. So here's what that looks like in my "bin" directory:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 82 Feb 26 2013 blender264 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.64a-linux-glibc27-i686/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 83 Feb 26 2013 blender265 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.65a-linux-glibc211-i686/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 84 Feb 27 2013 blender266 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.66-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 85 Mar 7 2013 blender2661 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.66a-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 85 Sep 12 2013 blender268 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.68a-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 84 Nov 27 2013 blender269 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.69-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 85 Jun 24 15:54 blender270a -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.70a-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 88 Mar 6 2014 blender270rc1 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.70-RC1-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 84 Jul 29 12:08 blender271 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.71-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 85 Oct 23 16:52 blender272 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.72b-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 92 Nov 11 18:24 blender2725c -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.72-5c6e333-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender
lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 95 Dec 19 13:40 blender273tb1 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.73-testbuild1-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender

Since my "bin" directory is in my path, I can run any version by typing the name of the link (blender264, blender272, blender273tb1). They all work except blender273tb1. Furthermore, it does actually run Blender, so I don't think it's a permission issue. But as soon as it starts it exits with this fatal error:

  user:~/proj/MCell/cellblender_git$ blender273tb1 &

- [x] 6046

  user:~/proj/MCell/cellblender_git$ Color management: using fallback mode for management
  connect failed: No such file or directory
  BLF_lang_init: 'locale' data path for translations not found, continuing
  Read new prefs: ~/.config/blender/2.72/config/userpref.blend
  Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding
  ImportError: No module named 'encodings'

I can continue to work just by changing my directory and launching it from there, but it took me a while to figure that out and that might be true for others as well. Since there was a report on this same problem in 2.61 on BlenderArtists:

   http://blenderartists.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-240278.html

It might be a lead as to why this is happening in 2.73 test build 1.

Thanks for your time.

I think Python is bundled into Blender, so there should be no need to install a separate version. Furthermore, it has worked without fail in all versions I've used: 2.62, 2.64a, 2.65a, 2.66, 2.66a, 2.68a, 2.69, 2.70, 2.70a, 2.71, 2.72b. I've only had problems in 2.73 (2.73-testbuild1-linux-glibc211-x86_64). In all cases, I've installed (unzipped) the tar.bz2 file into a subfolder in my directory tree (/home/bob/Blender/downloads). I then place a symbolic link from my own "bin" directory to the binary. So here's what that looks like in my "bin" directory: lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 82 Feb 26 2013 blender264 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.64a-linux-glibc27-i686/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 83 Feb 26 2013 blender265 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.65a-linux-glibc211-i686/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 84 Feb 27 2013 blender266 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.66-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 85 Mar 7 2013 blender2661 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.66a-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 85 Sep 12 2013 blender268 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.68a-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 84 Nov 27 2013 blender269 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.69-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 85 Jun 24 15:54 blender270a -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.70a-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 88 Mar 6 2014 blender270rc1 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.70-RC1-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 84 Jul 29 12:08 blender271 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.71-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 85 Oct 23 16:52 blender272 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.72b-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 92 Nov 11 18:24 blender2725c -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.72-5c6e333-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender lrwxrwxrwx 1 bob bob 95 Dec 19 13:40 blender273tb1 -> /home/bob/Blender/downloads/blender-2.73-testbuild1-linux-glibc211-x86_64/blender Since my "bin" directory is in my path, I can run any version by typing the name of the link (blender264, blender272, blender273tb1). They all work except blender273tb1. Furthermore, it does actually run Blender, so I don't think it's a permission issue. But as soon as it starts it exits with this fatal error: ``` user:~/proj/MCell/cellblender_git$ blender273tb1 & ``` - [x] 6046 ``` user:~/proj/MCell/cellblender_git$ Color management: using fallback mode for management connect failed: No such file or directory BLF_lang_init: 'locale' data path for translations not found, continuing Read new prefs: ~/.config/blender/2.72/config/userpref.blend Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding ImportError: No module named 'encodings' ``` I can continue to work just by changing my directory and launching it from there, but it took me a while to figure that out and that might be true for others as well. Since there was a report on this same problem in 2.61 on BlenderArtists: ``` http://blenderartists.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-240278.html ``` It might be a lead as to why this is happening in 2.73 test build 1. Thanks for your time.

Bob Kuczewski commented

2014-12-20 22:16:47 +01:00

One more thought ...

Could someone test symbolic linked versions of 2.72 and 2.73tb1 to at least verify that 2.72 works in this configuration and 2.73 does not? It's always possible that I've done something else wrong, and that would confirm the validity of report itself on your end. Whether it's a "bug" or a "feature" will then be your call. : )

Thanks again.

One more thought ... Could someone test symbolic linked versions of 2.72 and 2.73tb1 to at least verify that 2.72 works in this configuration and 2.73 does not? It's always possible that I've done something else wrong, and that would confirm the validity of report itself on your end. Whether it's a "bug" or a "feature" will then be your call. : ) Thanks again.

Bastien Montagne commented

2014-12-21 13:11:04 +01:00

Changed status from 'Archived' to: 'Open'

Bastien Montagne reopened this issue

2014-12-21 13:11:04 +01:00

Bastien Montagne commented

2014-12-21 13:11:04 +01:00

Yeah, actually, can confirm that. Just download 2.73 testbuild, extract it somewhere in your home dir, and make link to the desktop, that link won't work...

Campbell, Sergey, would we consider this a release blocker? Seems rather annoying to me, and have no real idea about what's happening here.

Yeah, actually, can confirm that. Just download 2.73 testbuild, extract it somewhere in your home dir, and make link to the desktop, that link won't work... Campbell, Sergey, would we consider this a release blocker? Seems rather annoying to me, and have no real idea about what's happening here.

Bastien Montagne commented

2014-12-21 13:11:56 +01:00

Added subscribers: @Sergey, @ideasman42
Removed subscriber: @MartijnBerger

Added subscribers: @Sergey, @ideasman42 Removed subscriber: @MartijnBerger

Julian Eisel removed their assignment 2014-12-21 19:22:33 +01:00

Julian Eisel commented

2014-12-21 19:22:33 +01:00

Added subscriber: @JulianEisel

Sergey Sharybin self-assigned this 2014-12-21 19:25:27 +01:00

Bob Kuczewski commented

2014-12-22 01:16:17 +01:00

For what it's worth, I certainly wouldn't block your release of 2.73 for this - especially since there are relatively easy work-arounds. I just wanted to get it in the queue to hopefully be fixed in the future.

Thanks very much to all developers who've brought (and continue to bring) us this excellent software.

For what it's worth, I certainly wouldn't block your release of 2.73 for this - especially since there are relatively easy work-arounds. I just wanted to get it in the queue to hopefully be fixed in the future. Thanks very much to all developers who've brought (and continue to bring) us this excellent software.

blender-admin commented

2014-12-22 09:43:23 +01:00

This issue was referenced by cd4fedb285

This issue was referenced by cd4fedb285a04b1f443623e8ae9548ddaef8088b

Sergey Sharybin commented

2014-12-22 09:53:33 +01:00

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Resolved'

Sergey Sharybin closed this issue

2014-12-22 09:53:33 +01:00

Sergey Sharybin commented

2014-12-22 09:53:33 +01:00

Closed by commit cd4fedb285.

Closed by commit cd4fedb285.

Bob Kuczewski commented

2014-12-23 00:22:05 +01:00

Super!! When will this appear in a complete test build? The current test build on the web site is still from December 10th, 2014. Is there an automated "build bot" making these somewhere else?

[edit] Sorry, I just found the buildbot area!! [/edit]

Thanks for such quick resolution.

Super!! When will this appear in a complete test build? The current test build on the web site is still from December 10th, 2014. Is there an automated "build bot" making these somewhere else? [edit] Sorry, I just found the buildbot area!! [/edit] Thanks for such quick resolution.

Bob Kuczewski commented

2014-12-23 06:12:35 +01:00

This buildbot version works fine: blender-2.72-646a96b-linux-glibc211-x86_64

Thanks.

This buildbot version works fine: blender-2.72-646a96b-linux-glibc211-x86_64 Thanks.

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Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding #42966