[python] Visual Studio Code pylint: Unable to import 'protorpc'

I'm using pylint in Visual Studio Code to develop a Google App Engine (GAE) Cloud Endpoint API in Python. I'm unable to resolve a lint error. I don't know what's causing the error, but at a guess, pylint cannot find the protorpc library?

The recommended fix in Troubleshooting Linting is to configure workspace settings to point to fully qualified python executable. I have done this, but the lint error remains.

protorpc itself is installed to:

~/google-cloud-sdk/platform/google_appengine/lib/protorpc-1.0/protorpc

...and this contains the remote.py module that cannot be imported:

__init__.py             generate_python.py      protojson.py            transport.py
definition.py           google_imports.py       protourlencode.py       util.py
descriptor.py           message_types.py        registry.py             webapp
generate.py             messages.py             remote.py               wsgi
generate_proto.py       protobuf.py             static

I've added this path to $PYTHONPATH (along with the kitchen sink):

export GOOGLE_CLOUD_SDK=~/google-cloud-sdk
export APPENGINE_PATH=$GOOGLE_CLOUD_SDK/platform/google_appengine

export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$GOOGLE_CLOUD_SDK
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$GOOGLE_CLOUD_SDK/lib
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$GOOGLE_CLOUD_SDK/lib/googlecloudsdk
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$GOOGLE_CLOUD_SDK/lib/googlecloudsdk/api_lib
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$GOOGLE_CLOUD_SDK/platform/google_appengine/lib
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$GOOGLE_CLOUD_SDK/platform/google_appengine/lib/protorpc-1.0/protorpc

The application runs locally and also when deployed, so this appears to be just a lint error, but it's frustrating that I can't solve it.

Using third-party libraries states:

The Python runtime in the standard environment includes the Python standard library, the App Engine libraries, and a few bundled third-party packages.

Because of this, I assumed 'the App Engine libraries' includes protorpc, but I'm unsure. Moreover, Adding the Cloud Endpoints Frameworks library to the sample API only requires google-endpoints be installed to the app's lib directory:

pip install -t lib google-endpoints --extra-index-url=https://gapi-pypi.appspot.com/admin/nurpc-dev --ignore-installed

My point is, I don't think I've not installed something, and I don't think I'm missing anything in my (web) app's lib directory.

I've not played around with all possibilities, but at least I had the impression that this could be a python version related issue. No idea why, I just trusted my gut.

Thus I just changed the pythonPath to python3 (default: python):

"python.pythonPath": "python3"

I reinstalled the dependencies (including pylint!!!) with

pip3 install <package> --user

... and after restarting vs code, everything looked fine.

HTH Kai

I had same problem for pyodbc , I had two version of python on my Ubuntu (python3.8 and python3.9), problem was: package installed on python3.8 location but my interpreter was for python3.9. i installed python3.8 interpreter in command palette and it fixed.

Spent hours trying to fix the error for importing local modules. Code execution was fine but pylint showed:

    Unable to import '<module>'

Finally figured:

1. First of all, select the correct python path. (In the case of a virtual environment, it will be venv/bin/python). You can do this by hitting

2. Make sure that your pylint path is the same as the python path you chose in step 1. (You can open VS Code from within the activated venv from terminal so it automatically performs these two steps)

3. The most important step: Add an empty __init__.py file in the folder that contains your module file. Although python3 does not require this file for importing modules, I think pylint still requires it for linting.

Restart VS Code, the errors should be gone!

I was still getting these errors even after confirming that the correct python and pylint were being used from my virtual env.

Eventually I figured out that in Visual Studio Code I was A) opening my project directory, which is B) where my Python virtual environment was, but I was C) running my main Python program from two levels deeper. Those three things need to be in sync for everything to work.

Here's what I would recommend:

1. In Visual Studio Code, open the directory containing your main Python program. (This may or may not be the top level of the project directory.)

2. Select Terminal menu > New Terminal, and create an virtual environment directly inside the same directory.

   python3 -m venv env
   

3. Install pylint in the virtual environment. If you select any Python file in the sidebar, Visual Studio Code will offer to do this for you. Alternatively, source env/bin/activate then pip install pylint.

4. In the blue bottom bar of the editor window, choose the Python interpreter env/bin/python. Alternatively, go to Settings and set "Python: Python Path." This sets python.pythonPath in Settings.json.

go to files-> preference-> settings-> and search pylint and we got some few options and uncheck the option 'whether to lint python files' from 'python Linting:Enabled'.

For your case, add the following code to vscode's settings.json.

"python.linting.pylintArgs": [
    "--init-hook='import sys; sys.path.append(\"~/google-cloud-sdk/platform/google_appengine/lib\")'"
]

For the other who got troubles with pip packages, you can go with

"python.linting.pylintArgs": [
    "--init-hook='import sys; sys.path.append(\"/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages\")'"
]

You should replace python3.7 above with your python version.

Changing the library path worked for me. Hitting Ctrl + Shift + P and typing python interpreter and choosing one of the available shown. One was familiar (as pointed to a virtualenv that was working fine earlier) and it worked. Take note of the version of python you are working with, either 2.7 or 3.x and choose accordingly

I resolved this by adding the protorpc library to the $PYTHONPATH environment variable. Specifically, I pointed to the library installed in my App Engine directory:

export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/Users/jackwootton/google-cloud-sdk/platform/google_appengine/lib/protorpc-1.0

After adding this to ~/.bash_profile, restarting my machine and Visual Studio Code, the import errors went away.

For completeness, I did not modify any Visual Studio Code settings relating to Python. Full ~/.bash_profile file:

export PATH=/Users/jackwootton/protoc3/bin:$PATH

export PYTHONPATH=/Users/jackwootton/google-cloud-sdk/platform/google_appengine

export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/Users/jackwootton/google-cloud-sdk/platform/google_appengine/lib/protorpc-1.0

# The next line updates PATH for the Google Cloud SDK.
if [ -f '/Users/jackwootton/google-cloud-sdk/path.bash.inc' ]; then source '/Users/jackwootton/google-cloud-sdk/path.bash.inc'; fi

# The next line enables shell command completion for gcloud.
if [ -f '/Users/jackwootton/google-cloud-sdk/completion.bash.inc' ]; then source '/Users/jackwootton/google-cloud-sdk/completion.bash.inc'; fi

I resolve this error by below step :

1 : first of all write this code in terminal :

...$ which python3
/usr/bin/python3

2 : Then :

"python.pythonPath": "/users/bin/python",

done.

The visual studio default setting should be the same as the interpreter path.

Change VS code default setting: windows: File > Preferences > Settings

{
    "python.pythonPath": "C:\\Users\\Anaconda3\\pythonw.exe",
    "workbench.startupEditor": "newUntitledFile"
}

Find the right interpreter: windows: Ctrl+Shift+P->select interpreter:

the path of that interpreter should be same as the version you are working on.

First I will check the python3 path where it lives

And then in the VS Code settings just add that path, for example:

"python.pythonPath": "/usr/local/bin/python3"

I was facing same issue (VS Code).Resolved by below method

1) Select Interpreter command from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)

2) Search for "Select Interpreter"

3) Select the installed python directory

Ref:- https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/environments#_select-an-environment

I got the same error on my vscode where I had a library installed and the code working when running from the terminal, but for some reason, the vscode pylint was not able to pick the installed package returning the infamous error:

Unable to import 'someLibrary.someModule' pylint(import-error)

The problem might arise due to the multiple Python installations. Basically you have installed a library/package on one, and vscode pylint is installed and running from another installation. For example, on macOS and many Linux distros, there are by default Python2 installed and when you install Python3 this might cause confusion. Also on windows the Chocolatey package manager might cause some mess and you end up with multiple Python installations. To figure it out if you are on a *nix machine (i.e., macOS, GNU/Linux, BSD...), use the which command, and if you are on Windows, use the where command to find the installed Python interpreters. For example, on *nix machines:

which python3

and on Windows

where python

then you may want to uninstall the ones you don't want. and the one you want to use check if the package causing above issue is installed by

python -c "import someLibrary"

if you get an error then you should install it by for example pip:

pip install someLibrary

then on vscode press ??P if you are on a mac and CtrlShiftP on other operating systems. Then type-select the >python: Select Interpreter option and select the one you know have the library installed. At this moment vscode might asks you to install pyling again, which you just go on with.

I find the solutions stated above very useful. Especially the Python's Virtual Environment explanation by jrc.

In my case, I was using Docker and was editing 'local' files (not direcly inside the docker). So I installed Remote Development extension by Microsoft.

ext install ms-vscode-remote.vscode-remote-extensionpack

More details can be found at https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.vscode-remote-extensionpack

I should say, it was not easy to play around at first. What worked for me was...
1. starting docker
2. In vscode, Remote-container: Attach to running container
3. Adding folder /code/<path-to-code-folder> from root of the machine to vscode

and then installing python extension + pylint