Using savepoints in python sqlite3

Question

I'm attempting to use savepoints with the sqlite3 module built into python 2.6. Every time I try to release or rollback a savepoint, I always recieve an OperationalError: no such savepoint. What am I missing?

python version: 2.6.4 (r264:75821M, Oct 27 2009, 19:48:32) 
[GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5493)]
PySQLite version: 2.4.1
sqlite3 version: 3.6.11

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "spDemo.py", line 21, in <module>
    conn.execute("release savepoint spTest;")
sqlite3.OperationalError: no such savepoint: spTest

from this code:

import sys
import sqlite3

print 'python version:', sys.version
print 'PySQLite version:', sqlite3.version
print 'sqlite3 version:', sqlite3.sqlite_version
print

conn = sqlite3.connect('db_spDemo.db')
conn.isolation_level = "DEFERRED"

with conn:
    conn.execute("create table example (A, B);")

with conn:
    conn.execute("insert into example values (?, ?);", (0,200))

    conn.execute("savepoint spTest;")
    conn.execute("insert into example values (?, ?);", (1,201))
    conn.execute("insert into example values (?, ?);", (2,202))
    conn.execute("release savepoint spTest;")

    conn.execute("insert into example values (?, ?);", (5,205))

Answer 1

This appears to be a result of how the sqlite3 module behaves with that isolation level.

This works, notice the two changes:

import sys
import sqlite3

print 'python version:', sys.version
print 'PySQLite version:', sqlite3.version
print 'sqlite3 version:', sqlite3.sqlite_version
print

conn = sqlite3.connect('shane.sqlite')
conn.isolation_level = None  # CHANGED

with conn:
    conn.execute("create table example (A, B);")

with conn:
    conn.execute("insert into example values (?, ?);", (0,200))

    conn.execute("savepoint spTest;")
    conn.execute("insert into example values (?, ?);", (1,201))
    conn.execute("insert into example values (?, ?);", (2,202))
    conn.execute("rollback to savepoint spTest;")  # CHANGED

    conn.execute("insert into example values (?, ?);", (5,205))

Output:

$ python shane-sqlite3.py && sqlite3 shane.sqlite 'select * from example;'
python version: 2.6.2 (release26-maint, Apr 19 2009, 01:56:41) 
[GCC 4.3.3]
PySQLite version: 2.4.1
sqlite3 version: 3.6.10

0|200
5|205

This is an unsatisfactory answer, and I didn't see anything relevant in the sqlite3 module docs (nor did I try to take a look at the source). But I hope it helps you find the right direction.

Answer 2

This is a bug in pysqlite, see the pysql issue tracker and the python issue tracker.