ipython server can't launch: No module named notebook.notebookapp

Question

I've been trying to setup an ipython server following several tutorials (since none was exactly my case). A couple days ago, I did manage to get it to the point where it was launching but then was not able to access it via url. Today it's not launching anymore and I can't find much about this specific error I get:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/ipython", line 9, in <module>
    load_entry_point('ipython==4.0.0-dev', 'console_scripts', 'ipython')()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ipython-4.0.0_dev-py2.7.egg/IPython/__init__.py", line 118, in start_ipython
    return launch_new_instance(argv=argv, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/traitlets-4.0.0-py2.7.egg/traitlets/config/application.py", line 591, in launch_instance
    app.initialize(argv)
  File "<string>", line 2, in initialize
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/traitlets-4.0.0-py2.7.egg/traitlets/config/application.py", line 75, in catch_config_error
    return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ipython-4.0.0_dev-py2.7.egg/IPython/terminal/ipapp.py", line 302, in initialize
    super(TerminalIPythonApp, self).initialize(argv)
  File "<string>", line 2, in initialize
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/traitlets-4.0.0-py2.7.egg/traitlets/config/application.py", line 75, in catch_config_error
    return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ipython-4.0.0_dev-py2.7.egg/IPython/core/application.py", line 386, in initialize
    self.parse_command_line(argv)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ipython-4.0.0_dev-py2.7.egg/IPython/terminal/ipapp.py", line 297, in parse_command_line
    return super(TerminalIPythonApp, self).parse_command_line(argv)
  File "<string>", line 2, in parse_command_line
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/traitlets-4.0.0-py2.7.egg/traitlets/config/application.py", line 75, in catch_config_error
    return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/traitlets-4.0.0-py2.7.egg/traitlets/config/application.py", line 487, in parse_command_line
    return self.initialize_subcommand(subc, subargv)
  File "<string>", line 2, in initialize_subcommand
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/traitlets-4.0.0-py2.7.egg/traitlets/config/application.py", line 75, in catch_config_error
    return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/traitlets-4.0.0-py2.7.egg/traitlets/config/application.py", line 418, in initialize_subcommand
    subapp = import_item(subapp)
  File "build/bdist.linux-x86_64/egg/ipython_genutils/importstring.py", line 31, in import_item
ImportError: No module named notebook.notebookapp

So about the setup, I have installed the anaconda distrib of ipython, pyzmq & tornado libraries. I have created a profile nbserver and the config file is as follows - ipython.config.py:

c = get_config()
c.IPKernalApp.pylab = 'inline'
c.NotebookApp.certfile = u'/home/ludo/.ipython/profile_nbserver/mycert.pem'
c.NotebookApp.ip = '*'
c.NotebookApp.open_browser = False
c.NotebookApp.password = u'sha1:e6cb2aa9a[...]'
c.NotebookApp.port = 9999
c.NotebookManager.notebook_dir = u'/var/www/ipynb/'
c.NotebookApp.base_project_url = '/ipynb/'
c.NotebookApp.base_kernel_url = '/ipynb/'
c.NotebookApp.webapp_settings = {'static_url_prefix':'/ipynb/static/'}

I really don't know where to look for clues anymore - and I'm probably lacking a greater understanding of how all this works to figure it out. My ultimate goal is to then use the answer to this question on SO to complete a setup behind apache and eventually connect it to colaboratory - but seems like it should launch first.

Many thanks for any help :)

Answer 1

This should fix the issue:

pip install jupyter

Answer 2

I received the same problem when upgrading IPython. At the moment the answer was written, it was a bug linked to the latest 4 version. If a similar problem occurs for which you wish to switch back to the stable version 3.2.1:

pip uninstall -y IPython
pip install ipython==3.2.1

• note: the -y option indicates "yes I want to uninstall" with no interaction.
• note 2: possible duplicate in ImportError: No module named notebook.notebookapp

Answer 3

So to close this thread, and in case it helps anyone, my mistake was to have installed and used the dev version of ipython blindly following a tutorial, thinking I was using the anaconda instance I installed earlier (which was not even in my PATH).

Anyhow I:

• uninstalled that ipython dev instance
• added anaconda/bin to my zsh path (add it to ~/.zshrc - that's why it was not even in my path after install) // at this point the server was launching fine but I couldn't access it in my browser >> firewall problems.
• opened my port of choice in my firewall (help for linode or ubuntu in general)

And everything works fine now.

Answer 4

Someone mentioned this in a comment, and it (almost) worked for me:

pip install ipython[notebook]

pip gave an error about the hash not matching. However, what ultimately worked was:

sudo port install py27-notebook

And for py3:

sudo port install py35-notebook

Answer 5

You should not try to install from github master branch if you do not now what you are doing. Remove what you have installed and stick to stable version.

If you want to work on developpement version, ask on the developpement mailing-list. Some knowlege on how to debug this will probably be required.