Have I broken my installation?

[Matt Mower]

Hi folks,

I have an old Linux box that I am messing about with Python on. The
RedHat installed version is 1.5 something so I have built & installed
2.2.2 in /opt/python.

I've started trying to play with XML and ran into an error when
attempting to parse a document:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/mnt/hugedisk/share/MattsMovableTyp e/stb/stb.cgi", line 90, in ?
documentElem = parse( rssFile )
File "/opt/python/lib/python2.2/xml/dom/minidom.py", line 962, in parse
return _doparse(pulldo m.parse, args, kwargs)
File "/opt/python/lib/python2.2/xml/dom/minidom.py", line 953, in _doparse
events = apply(func, args, kwargs)
File "/opt/python/lib/python2.2/xml/dom/pulldom.py", line 328, in parse
parser = xml.sax.make_pa rser()
File "/opt/python/lib/python2.2/xml/sax/__init__.py", line 93, in make_parser
raise SAXReaderNotAva ilable("No parsers found", None)
xml.sax._excep tions.SAXReader NotAvailable: No parsers found
Googling around it seems like I needed to build XML support when I
built Python. I'm not sure what I should have done differently when I
built in order to make that happen. The other option on offer
appeared to be installing PyXML.

I duly downloaded PyXML 0.8.2 and installed it (again into /opt/python
using --prefix).

Now instead of the previous error I get a different problem entirely:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/mnt/hugedisk/share/MattsMovableTyp e/stb/stb.cgi", line 18, in ?
from xml.dom.minidom import parse, Document
File "./xml.py", line 2, in ?
from xml.dom.minidom import parse
ImportError: No module named dom.minidom

I'm pretty sure I had a module dom.minidom before as it is the import
statement that is raising the exception and it didn't prior to
installing PyXML, I was previously calling parse() and Document().

So did I make a mistake installing PyXML? Can anyone advise me on
what my next steps should be?

Many thanks,

Matt

---
Systems Engineer, Hipbone(EMEA) Ltd.
3000 Hillswood drive, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 0RS
Tel: [phone] Mob: [phone]

[Erik Max Francis]

Matt Mower wrote:

I made one small adjustment, specifying the --prefix=/opt/python
option to put PyXML in the same directory as Python 2.2.
Well, that's your problem right there. Note the symptomology of what
Martin von Loewis asked you to test -- it prints different things for
your interactive usage and the CGI script.
My entire Python developing experience runs to about an afternoons
worth so I have no idea why PyXML isn't working or isn't being found.
That's because the problem you're running into here is a difference in
environment between you running the program in your interactive shell
and Apache running it as nobody. It's a general Unix issue, not
specific to Python.
Can you suggest anything?

The problem is that you've installed PyXML in /opt/python, which is a
nonstandard place -- though that isn't in and of itself wrong if you
know what you're doing. You've obviously adjusted your interactive
environment to look in /opt/python, since you're running the scripts
without problems locally, but CGI scripts do not run in your
environment, and so aren't seeing what you've installed in /opt/python,
since that is a nonstandard place. For a quick remedy, add something
like this:

import sys
sys.path.append ('/opt/python')

to the top of your script. A more permanent solution would involve
adding it to /usr/local/lib/pythonX.Y/site.py.

--
Erik Max Francis && ma*@alcyone.com && http://www.alcyone.com/max/
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