How to correct a compile/build issue with quickfix (v1.13.3) with Python support (... "_quickfix" import exception)

Question

It took the equivalent of a 1/2 day for me to figure this out, so I want to share the Quickfix Engine compile problem I encountered and the solution.

I didn't get a reply from the "Quickfix Engine" help resources pointed to here: "http://quickfixengine.org/help"... thus another reason I am providing this.

Environment: Fedora 18 -and- CentOS6 (64bit).

After successfully compiling quickfix with Python support (i.e. configure [opts]; make; make install), I got the following python import exception indicating that the python module, "_quickfix", could not be found:

==============================================
user$ python -c "import quickfix"

Traceback (most recent call last):
File " ", line 1, in
File "/home/user/APPS.d/ENTHOUGHT-PYTHON-IDE.d/x86_64.d/latest/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix.py", line 7, in

import _quickfix
ImportError: No module named _quickfix
==============================================

The problem appears to be in the install script invoked by "make install".

The python interpreter is saying that the "_quickfix" module does not exit. As can be seen from the list of files install by "make install" below, there is no "_quickfix.py" file, but there is a reference to a "_quickfix.so" file and a "_quickfix.dylib" file:

/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/_quickfix.dylib -> /home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/python/_quickfix.dylib
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/_quickfix.so -> /home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/python/_quickfix.so
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix40.py
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix41.py
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix42.py
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix42.pyc
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix43.py
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix44.py
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix50.py
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix50sp1.py
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix50sp2.py
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix.py
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfix.pyc
/home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/quickfixt11.py

/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/libquickfix.la
/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/libquickfix_python.la
/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/libquickfix_python.so.10.0.0
/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/libquickfix_python.so.10 -> libquickfix_python.so.10.0.0
/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/libquickfix_python.so -> libquickfix_python.so.10.0.0
/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/libquickfix.so.14.0.0
/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/libquickfix.so.14 -> libquickfix.so.14.0.0
/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/libquickfix.so -> libquickfix.so.14.0.0
/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/pkgconfig/quickfix.pc

Answer 1

SOLUTION: The problem is that the first two entries above, which are symbolic links, are broken.

First, the destination directory is incorrect:

/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/python/...

should actually be:

/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/...

So we fix that first:

user$ cd /home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages
user$ rm _quickfix.so _quickfix.dylib
user$ ln -s /home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/_quickfix.so    _quickfix.so
user$ ln -s /home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib/_quickfix.dylib _quickfix.dylib

Next, with destination directory location corrected, the symbolic links are still broken; this time because the file names that they point to in that (just corrected) destination directory don't exist (i.e. "_quickfix.so" and "_quickfix.dylib" don't exist).

After playing around a little, I got things to work by creating those missing files like so:

user$ cd /home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib
user$ ln -s libquickfix_python.so _quickfix.so
user$ ln -s <???> _quickfix.dylib  # Actually I didn't create this one yet. It's not yet clear to me what it should point to. I Will update this post later.

-

Note: Because I compiled QuickFix so that it does not install to the traditional "/usr/local/" directory structure, I had to append my "LD_LIBRARY_PATH" to include: "/home/user/APPS.d/QUICKFIX.d/latest/lib"

With minimal testing, things seem to work now (or at least in the right direction):

user$ python -c "import quickfix"; echo ${?}
0
user$ python -c "import quickfix42"; echo ${?}
0

When I figure out what the second link should be (if it is necessary), or if I should encounter any run-time errors with the corrections I implemented, I'll update/edit this post.

I hope this helps someone.

Noel

Answer 2

Had the same problem in Ubuntu 13.04. configured with python support and used the default destination (/usr/local/...). After successful compilation then worked out a similar solution with the following steps;

1. Create missing files/symlinks;

   cd /usr/local/lib

   sudo ln -s libquickfix_python.so _quickfix.so

   sudo ln -s _quickfix.so _quickfix.dylib

2. Change/update existing symlinks to new location:

   cd /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/

   sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/_quickfix.so _quickfix.so

   sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/_quickfix.so _quickfix.dylib

3. Add new library path

   export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:}/usr/local/lib

Answer 3

You do not need to create multiple symlinks - you only need to remove the bad symlinks and create one new symlink for _quickfix.so for everything to work:

rm /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/_quickfix.dylib
rm /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/_quickfix.so
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libquickfix_python.dylib /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/_quickfix.so

This is on OS X. For Linux you will need to use the following (as the dylib extension is OS X specific)

ln -s /usr/local/lib/libquickfix_python.so /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/_quickfix.so