google-api-python-client doesn't work and makes Spyder to fail when starting

Question

I installed google-api-python-client on my Ubuntu 13.04 with

sudo easy_install --upgrade google-api-python-client

as it is said here.

After that I tried to translate something in python with it. I took the code from here.

>>> from apiclient.discovery import build
>>> service = build('translate', 'v2', developerKey='MyApiKey')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/google_api_python_client-1.1-py2.7.egg/oauth2client/util.py", line 128, in positional_wrapper
    return wrapped(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/google_api_python_client-1.1-py2.7.egg/apiclient/discovery.py", line 192, in build
    resp, content = http.request(requested_url)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/httplib2-0.8-py2.7.egg/httplib2/__init__.py", line 1570, in request
    (response, content) = self._request(conn, authority, uri, request_uri, method, body, headers, redirections, cachekey)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/httplib2-0.8-py2.7.egg/httplib2/__init__.py", line 1317, in _request
    (response, content) = self._conn_request(conn, request_uri, method, body, headers)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/httplib2-0.8-py2.7.egg/httplib2/__init__.py", line 1252, in _conn_request
    conn.connect()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/httplib2-0.8-py2.7.egg/httplib2/__init__.py", line 1021, in connect
    self.disable_ssl_certificate_validation, self.ca_certs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/httplib2-0.8-py2.7.egg/httplib2/__init__.py", line 80, in _ssl_wrap_socket
    cert_reqs=cert_reqs, ca_certs=ca_certs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/ssl.py", line 440, in wrap_socket
    ciphers=ciphers)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/ssl.py", line 198, in __init__
    ciphers)
ssl.SSLError: [Errno 185090050] _ssl.c:340: error:0B084002:x509 certificate routines:X509_load_cert_crl_file:system lib

What is wrong?

Actually, I first wanted to do that in Spyder, but it failed to start:

ilya@ilya-laptop:~/Projects/online-translator$ spyder
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/spyder", line 3, in <module>
    start_app.main()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/spyderlib/start_app.py", line 64, in main
    from spyderlib import spyder
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/spyderlib/spyder.py", line 97, in <module>
    from spyderlib.plugins.inspector import ObjectInspector
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/spyderlib/plugins/inspector.py", line 36, in <module>
    from spyderlib.widgets.ipython import IPythonControlWidget
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/spyderlib/widgets/ipython.py", line 12, in <module>
    from IPython.frontend.qt.console.rich_ipython_widget import RichIPythonWidget
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/frontend/qt/console/rich_ipython_widget.py", line 20, in <module>
    from ipython_widget import IPythonWidget
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/frontend/qt/console/ipython_widget.py", line 25, in <module>
    from frontend_widget import FrontendWidget
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/frontend/qt/console/frontend_widget.py", line 10, in <module>
    from pygments.lexers import PythonLexer
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pygments/lexers/__init__.py", line 18, in <module>
    from pygments.plugin import find_plugin_lexers
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pygments/plugin.py", line 39, in <module>
    import pkg_resources
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2823, in <module>
    add_activation_listener(lambda dist: dist.activate())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 710, in subscribe
    callback(dist)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2823, in <lambda>
    add_activation_listener(lambda dist: dist.activate())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2255, in activate
    self.insert_on(path)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2362, in insert_on
    self.check_version_conflict()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2401, in check_version_conflict
    for modname in self._get_metadata('top_level.txt'):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2249, in _get_metadata
    for line in self.get_metadata_lines(name):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 1219, in get_metadata_lines
    return yield_lines(self.get_metadata(name))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 1211, in get_metadata
    return self._get(self._fn(self.egg_info,name))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 1326, in _get
    stream = open(path, 'rb')
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/google_api_python_client-1.1-py2.7.egg/EGG-INFO/top_level.txt'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/spyder", line 3, in <module>
    start_app.main()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/spyderlib/start_app.py", line 64, in main
    from spyderlib import spyder
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/spyderlib/spyder.py", line 97, in <module>
    from spyderlib.plugins.inspector import ObjectInspector
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/spyderlib/plugins/inspector.py", line 36, in <module>
    from spyderlib.widgets.ipython import IPythonControlWidget
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/spyderlib/widgets/ipython.py", line 12, in <module>
    from IPython.frontend.qt.console.rich_ipython_widget import RichIPythonWidget
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/frontend/qt/console/rich_ipython_widget.py", line 20, in <module>
    from ipython_widget import IPythonWidget
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/frontend/qt/console/ipython_widget.py", line 25, in <module>
    from frontend_widget import FrontendWidget
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/frontend/qt/console/frontend_widget.py", line 10, in <module>
    from pygments.lexers import PythonLexer
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pygments/lexers/__init__.py", line 18, in <module>
    from pygments.plugin import find_plugin_lexers
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pygments/plugin.py", line 39, in <module>
    import pkg_resources
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2823, in <module>
    add_activation_listener(lambda dist: dist.activate())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 710, in subscribe
    callback(dist)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2823, in <lambda>
    add_activation_listener(lambda dist: dist.activate())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2255, in activate
    self.insert_on(path)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2362, in insert_on
    self.check_version_conflict()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2401, in check_version_conflict
    for modname in self._get_metadata('top_level.txt'):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 2249, in _get_metadata
    for line in self.get_metadata_lines(name):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 1219, in get_metadata_lines
    return yield_lines(self.get_metadata(name))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 1211, in get_metadata
    return self._get(self._fn(self.egg_info,name))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources.py", line 1326, in _get
    stream = open(path, 'rb')
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/google_api_python_client-1.1-py2.7.egg/EGG-INFO/top_level.txt'

So somehow, google_api_python_client interferes with it's starting. WTF is wrong with google API bindings to python? Or with me?

Please, help.

Answer 1

From the traceback you received when trying to start Spyder, it looks like the Google API Python client has failed to install with the correct permissions. More precisely, Spyder is attempting to load components from IPython which make use of the Pygments syntax highlighter. Pygments is attempting to auto-discover packages using the pkg_resources module, but it can't read the google_api_python_client egg because of a permissions issue. I suspect that if you attempt to run Spyder as root it might launch okay.

Apparently, there are multiple potential sources of this problem. It can happen either because the Google package simply isn't built correctly, as described here, or it might be that you have another version of setuptools lingering somewhere, as described here. You might try removing google_api_python_client and re-installing via pip. In any case, removing google_api_python_client should allow Spyder to start normally again.