ImportError when trying to autodoc a package

Question

I'm trying to start using Sphinx to document some little projects of mine, but it seems like I can't get it to work.

I've already searched around but everything I tried until now didn't fix the import erro.

Here's exactly what I'm doing:

giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~$ mkdir sphinx-test
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~$ cd sphinx-test/
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test$ mkdir -p src/package doc
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test$ touch src/package/__init__.py
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test$ echo '"""Docstring 1"""
> class Test(object):
>     """Docstring 2"""
>     
>     def method(self):
>         """Docstring 3"""
>         pass
> ' > src/package/testing.py
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test$ cd doc
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test/doc$ sphinx-quickstart 
Welcome to the Sphinx 1.0.1 quickstart utility.

Please enter values for the following settings (just press Enter to
accept a default value, if one is given in brackets).

Enter the root path for documentation.
> Root path for the documentation [.]: 

You have two options for placing the build directory for Sphinx output.
Either, you use a directory "_build" within the root path, or you separate
"source" and "build" directories within the root path.
> Separate source and build directories (y/N) [n]: y

Inside the root directory, two more directories will be created; "_templates"
for custom HTML templates and "_static" for custom stylesheets and other static
files. You can enter another prefix (such as ".") to replace the underscore.
> Name prefix for templates and static dir [_]: 

The project name will occur in several places in the built documentation.
> Project name: testing
> Author name(s): A B

Sphinx has the notion of a "version" and a "release" for the
software. Each version can have multiple releases. For example, for
Python the version is something like 2.5 or 3.0, while the release is
something like 2.5.1 or 3.0a1.  If you don't need this dual structure,
just set both to the same value.
> Project version: 0.1
> Project release [0.1]: 

The file name suffix for source files. Commonly, this is either ".txt"
or ".rst".  Only files with this suffix are considered documents.
> Source file suffix [.rst]: 

One document is special in that it is considered the top node of the
"contents tree", that is, it is the root of the hierarchical structure
of the documents. Normally, this is "index", but if your "index"
document is a custom template, you can also set this to another filename.
> Name of your master document (without suffix) [index]: 

Sphinx can also add configuration for epub output:
> Do you want to use the epub builder (y/N) [n]: 

Please indicate if you want to use one of the following Sphinx extensions:
> autodoc: automatically insert docstrings from modules (y/N) [n]: y
> doctest: automatically test code snippets in doctest blocks (y/N) [n]: y
> intersphinx: link between Sphinx documentation of different projects (y/N) [n]: 
> todo: write "todo" entries that can be shown or hidden on build (y/N) [n]: 
> coverage: checks for documentation coverage (y/N) [n]: 
> pngmath: include math, rendered as PNG images (y/N) [n]: 
> jsmath: include math, rendered in the browser by JSMath (y/N) [n]: 
> ifconfig: conditional inclusion of content based on config values (y/N) [n]: 
> viewcode: include links to the source code of documented Python objects (y/N) [n]: 

A Makefile and a Windows command file can be generated for you so that you
only have to run e.g. `make html' instead of invoking sphinx-build
directly.
> Create Makefile? (Y/n) [y]: 
> Create Windows command file? (Y/n) [y]: 

Finished: An initial directory structure has been created.

You should now populate your master file ./source/index.rst and create other documentation
source files. Use the Makefile to build the docs, like so:
   make builder
where "builder" is one of the supported builders, e.g. html, latex or linkcheck.

giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test/doc$ vim source/conf.py  # sys.path.append('../../src')
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test/doc$ echo '
> Title
> =====
> 
> .. automodule:: package.testing
>     :members:
> 
> ..autoclass:: package.testing.Test
>     :members:
> 
> .. automethod:: package.testing.Test.method
> ' > source/testing.rst
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test/doc$ vim source/testing.rst  #correct the typo: ..autoclass -> .. autoclass
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test/doc$ vim source/index.rst   #add testing in the toctree
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test/doc$ make html
sphinx-build -b html -d build/doctrees   source build/html
Making output directory...
Running Sphinx v1.0.1
loading pickled environment... not yet created
building [html]: targets for 2 source files that are out of date
updating environment: 2 added, 0 changed, 0 removed
reading sources... [100%] testing                                                                                     
/home/giacomo/sphinx-test/doc/source/testing.rst:5: (WARNING/2) autodoc can't import/find module 'package.testing', it reported error: "No module named package.testing", please check your spelling and sys.path

/home/giacomo/sphinx-test/doc/source/testing.rst:8: (WARNING/2) autodoc can't import/find class 'package.testing.Test', it reported error: "No module named package.testing", please check your spelling and sys.path

/home/giacomo/sphinx-test/doc/source/testing.rst:11: (WARNING/2) autodoc can't import/find method 'package.testing.Test.method', it reported error: "No module named package.testing", please check your spelling and sys.path

looking for now-outdated files... none found
pickling environment... done
checking consistency... done
preparing documents... done
writing output... [100%] testing                                                                                      
writing additional files... genindex search
copying static files... done
dumping search index... done
dumping object inventory... done
build succeeded, 3 warnings.

Build finished. The HTML pages are in build/html.

I've tried also this:

giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test/doc$ rm build/html/*
rm: impossibile rimuovere "build/html/_sources": È una directory
rm: impossibile rimuovere "build/html/_static": È una directory
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-test/doc$ PYTHONPATH="../src" make html
sphinx-build -b html -d build/doctrees   source build/html
Running Sphinx v1.0.1
loading pickled environment... done
building [html]: targets for 2 source files that are out of date
updating environment: 0 added, 0 changed, 0 removed
looking for now-outdated files... none found
preparing documents... done
writing output... [100%] testing                                                                                      
writing additional files... genindex search
copying static files... done
dumping search index... done
dumping object inventory... done
build succeeded.

Build finished. The HTML pages are in build/html.

The output seems encouraging, but actually if I open index.html, press on Title the page of the testing module is completely blank. It simply have the title, no docstring or whatever.

Does anyone know what am I doing wrong here? I thought that putting .. automodule + .. autoclass would automatically show those docstrings, but I can't see them.

EDIT:

Fixed, but I can't understand why... Here's what I did this time(I think it's exactly the same as before)

giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~$ mkdir sphinx-tests
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~$ cd sphinx-tests/
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-tests$ mkdir -p src/package doc
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-tests$ touch src/package/__init__.py
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-tests$ echo '"""Docstring 1"""
> class Test(object):
>     """Docstring 2"""
>     def method(self):
>         """Docstring 3"""
>         pass
> ' > src/package/testing.py
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-tests$ cd doc
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-tests/doc$ sphinx-quickstart 
Welcome to the Sphinx 1.0.1 quickstart utility.

Please enter values for the following settings (just press Enter to
accept a default value, if one is given in brackets).

Enter the root path for documentation.
> Root path for the documentation [.]: 

You have two options for placing the build directory for Sphinx output.
Either, you use a directory "_build" within the root path, or you separate
"source" and "build" directories within the root path.
> Separate source and build directories (y/N) [n]: y

Inside the root directory, two more directories will be created; "_templates"
for custom HTML templates and "_static" for custom stylesheets and other static
files. You can enter another prefix (such as ".") to replace the underscore.
> Name prefix for templates and static dir [_]: 

The project name will occur in several places in the built documentation.
> Project name: Test
> Author name(s): A B

Sphinx has the notion of a "version" and a "release" for the
software. Each version can have multiple releases. For example, for
Python the version is something like 2.5 or 3.0, while the release is
something like 2.5.1 or 3.0a1.  If you don't need this dual structure,
just set both to the same value.
> Project version: 0.1
> Project release [0.1]: 

The file name suffix for source files. Commonly, this is either ".txt"
or ".rst".  Only files with this suffix are considered documents.
> Source file suffix [.rst]: 

One document is special in that it is considered the top node of the
"contents tree", that is, it is the root of the hierarchical structure
of the documents. Normally, this is "index", but if your "index"
document is a custom template, you can also set this to another filename.
> Name of your master document (without suffix) [index]: 

Sphinx can also add configuration for epub output:
> Do you want to use the epub builder (y/N) [n]: 

Please indicate if you want to use one of the following Sphinx extensions:
> autodoc: automatically insert docstrings from modules (y/N) [n]: y
> doctest: automatically test code snippets in doctest blocks (y/N) [n]: y
> intersphinx: link between Sphinx documentation of different projects (y/N) [n]: 
> todo: write "todo" entries that can be shown or hidden on build (y/N) [n]: 
> coverage: checks for documentation coverage (y/N) [n]: 
> pngmath: include math, rendered as PNG images (y/N) [n]: 
> jsmath: include math, rendered in the browser by JSMath (y/N) [n]: 
> ifconfig: conditional inclusion of content based on config values (y/N) [n]: 
> viewcode: include links to the source code of documented Python objects (y/N) [n]: 

A Makefile and a Windows command file can be generated for you so that you
only have to run e.g. `make html' instead of invoking sphinx-build
directly.
> Create Makefile? (Y/n) [y]: 
> Create Windows command file? (Y/n) [y]: 

Finished: An initial directory structure has been created.

You should now populate your master file ./source/index.rst and create other documentation
source files. Use the Makefile to build the docs, like so:
   make builder
where "builder" is one of the supported builders, e.g. html, latex or linkcheck.

giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-tests/doc$ echo '
> Title
> =====
> 
> .. automodule:: package.testing
>     :members:
> 
> .. autoclass:: package.testing.Test
>     :members:
> 
> .. automethod:: package.testing.Test.method
> ' > source/testing.rst
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-tests/doc$ vim source/index.rst   # add testing to toctree
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-tests/doc$ vim source/conf.py     #sys.path.append('../../src')
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-tests/doc$ make html
sphinx-build -b html -d build/doctrees   source build/html
Making output directory...
Running Sphinx v1.0.1
loading pickled environment... not yet created
building [html]: targets for 2 source files that are out of date
updating environment: 2 added, 0 changed, 0 removed
reading sources... [100%] testing                                                                                     
looking for now-outdated files... none found
pickling environment... done
checking consistency... done
preparing documents... done
writing output... [100%] testing                                                                                      
writing additional files... genindex py-modindex search
copying static files... done
dumping search index... done
dumping object inventory... done
build succeeded.

Build finished. The HTML pages are in build/html.
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/sphinx-tests/doc$ 

Btw: sorry for the many lines of code.

EDIT 2:

I've found that that if I clear the build/html directory no errors are shown by autodoc but the files generated for the modules are blank. No docstring is shown(even if when before I said that it was fixed the docstrings were shown correctly...).

If I leave the empty folders _sources and _static in the build/html folder than autodoc wont find the modules.

Really, I don't understand what's happening.

EDIT 3:

Okay now this is quite crazy:

giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/Progetti/TagEditor/doc$ rm -fr build/html/*
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/Progetti/TagEditor/doc$ make html
sphinx-build -b html -d build/doctrees   source build/html
[...]taglib                                                                                      
/home/giacomo/Progetti/TagEditor/doc/source/fields.rst:4: (WARNING/2) autodoc can't import/find module 'taglib.fields', it reported error: "No module named taglib.fields", please check your spelling and sys.path

/home/giacomo/Progetti/TagEditor/doc/source/taglib.rst:4: (WARNING/2) autodoc can't import/find module 'taglib', it reported error: "No module named taglib", please check your spelling and sys.path
[...]
build succeeded, 2 warnings.

Build finished. The HTML pages are in build/html.
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/Progetti/TagEditor/doc$ rm -fr build/html/*
giacomo@Giacomo-PC:~/Progetti/TagEditor/doc$ make html
sphinx-build -b html -d build/doctrees   source build/html
[...]
build succeeded.

Build finished. The HTML pages are in build/html.

Seems like the program isn't deterministic but "works" at random(still the module documentation files are empty).

Now I'm starting to think that it might be better to change software.

EDIT 4:

I rewrote one of the modules and now autodoc works perfectly... But I did not change any import in any module(I thought that maybe it was my module's fault), so I'm really puzzled by these changes of results.

Sorry for writing such a long question without an answer. Anyway I'm still looking forward to somebody who knows what was going on.

Answer 1

Sphinx pickles its environment and the toctree. I sometimes experienced strange behaviour with this 'caching'.

You can use make clean (which will rm the whole builddir) before make html. So everything is read from your changed files and possible errors are removed.