OperationalError at / unable to open database file Appears Sporadically

Question

I am getting the following error when I try to run a Django site in production:

OperationalError at / unable to open database file

The strangest part is that it worked for a few page reloads and even clicks on different navigation links. Then, it worked every other time or so. At the end, it stopped working all together. This behavior is very puzzling.

Here is the relevant piece from settings.py

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
    }
}

I have done chmod 777 db.sqlite as well as chmod o+w . within the directory where db.sqlite3 is located. It did not help.

How could I fix this? I am using a basic EC2 instance with Linux and Apache 2.4

Edit:

I have just duplicated the entire directory of the project using cp project project1 and then did mv project1 project. This made the site work for a few clicks, but then the error started creeping in again. Could this be a server issue?

if you use the full path for the name, make sure the server can also write to the parent directory: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7670289/sqlite3-operationalerror-unable-to-open-database-file — Mihai Zamfir, Apr 24 '17 at 20:21
"I have done chmod 777 db.sqlite as well as chmod o+w . within the directory where db.sqlite3 is located. It did not help." Do you have another suggestion on how to make the parent writeable? — MadPhysicist, Apr 24 '17 at 20:23

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 24 '17 at 20:35

1

I fixed it by running the following two commands from within the directory where the DB file was stored:

sudo chown apache:www db.sqlite3

sudo chown apache:www .

This did it for me for AWS EC2 with Amazon Linux (CentOS)

answered Apr 24 '17 at 20:35

MadPhysicist

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score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 24 '17 at 20:18

-1

You set the name of your DB to the full path. Don't do this. Just say 'NAME': 'db.sqlite3'

answered Apr 24 '17 at 20:18

Mihai Zamfir

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I set it like that because it gives server error otherwise. – MadPhysicist Apr 24 '17 at 20:20
If I set it like you suggest, I get `unable to open database file` if I set it with full path, I get `attempt to write a readonly database` – MadPhysicist Apr 24 '17 at 20:25
try do `chmod 777` for the directory containing your db.sqlite3 – Mihai Zamfir Apr 24 '17 at 20:27
It is my understanding that that would highly unsafe if the DB is in root of the project? – MadPhysicist Apr 24 '17 at 20:32
I was able to fix it. See my answer. Thank you for your help! – MadPhysicist Apr 24 '17 at 20:35

OperationalError at / unable to open database file Appears Sporadically

2 Answers2