Django postgres psycopg2: ImproperlyConfigure even though module installed

Question

I am using Django for the first time but have used PostgreSQL previously. I am trying to follow the official Django tutorial to set up with a database. I have followed everything but I get an error when using the command "python manage.py migrate" that psycopg2 is not found even though I have it

installed.Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/db/backends/postgresql/base.py", line 24, in <module>
    import psycopg2 as Database
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'psycopg2'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Documents/GitHub/mysite/manage.py", line 22, in <module>
    main()
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Documents/GitHub/mysite/manage.py", line 18, in main
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 446, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 420, in execute
    django.setup()
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/__init__.py", line 24, in setup
    apps.populate(settings.INSTALLED_APPS)
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/apps/registry.py", line 116, in populate
    app_config.import_models()
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/apps/config.py", line 269, in import_models
    self.models_module = import_module(models_module_name)
  File "/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1030, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1007, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 986, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 680, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 850, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 228, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/models.py", line 3, in <module>
    from django.contrib.auth.base_user import AbstractBaseUser, BaseUserManager
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/base_user.py", line 49, in <module>
    class AbstractBaseUser(models.Model):
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 141, in __new__
    new_class.add_to_class("_meta", Options(meta, app_label))
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 369, in add_to_class
    value.contribute_to_class(cls, name)
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/db/models/options.py", line 231, in contribute_to_class
    self.db_table, connection.ops.max_name_length()
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/utils/connection.py", line 15, in __getattr__
    return getattr(self._connections[self._alias], item)
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/utils/connection.py", line 62, in __getitem__
    conn = self.create_connection(alias)
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 193, in create_connection
    backend = load_backend(db["ENGINE"])
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 113, in load_backend
    return import_module("%s.base" % backend_name)
  File "/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/lib/python/site-packages/django/db/backends/postgresql/base.py", line 28, in <module>
    raise ImproperlyConfigured("Error loading psycopg2 module: %s" % e)
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading psycopg2 module: No module named 'psycopg2'

I am using the settings as mentioned in the Django tutorial:

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': 'DatabaseName',
        'USER': 'UserName',
        'PASSWORD': 'Userpassword',
        'HOST': '127.0.0.1',
        'PORT': '5432',
    }
}

I have confirmed that I have the necessary packages installed and in the same location :

pip freeze:

Django==4.1.3
psycopg2==2.9.5
psycopg2-binary==2.9.5

pip show Django/psycopg2/psycopg2-binary:

Django : Location: /opt/homebrew/lib/python3.10/site-packages
Psycopg2: Location: /opt/homebrew/lib/python3.10/site-packages
psycopg2-binary: Location: /opt/homebrew/lib/python3.10/site-packages

Does this answer your question? [django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading psycopg module: No module named psycopg](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8237842/django-core-exceptions-improperlyconfigured-error-loading-psycopg-module-no-mo) — Amir reza Riahi, Nov 17 '22 at 14:30
Unfortunately, I tried the solutions listed there too but it still is not working. — Alexander Veheecke, Nov 17 '22 at 15:06
As identified by @rm_kuzmin, it seems like you have two different python installations that you're using at different times. The `pip freeze` output suggests that you have a Python 3.10 environment which has django and psycopg2 installed, but then the python that is used for your application is 3.9, and probably doesn't have psycopg2 installed. The output of `which python`, `which pip`, `pip debug` would help here — KevinOrr, Nov 20 '22 at 15:00

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 17 '22 at 15:11

It's seems like you use system python for running your migrations. Error traceback contains following path of python binary: "/Users/alexanderverheecke/Library/Python/3.9/...", however in pip show command your python path is "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.10/".

Actually I don't understand how it's even possible, because first one looks like Windows path and the second one like Linux...

Anyway. Try something of this and run migrate command again:

activate/deactivate virtual environment if you use it
change your OS to the correct one
run pip install again

Make shure command which python(for Linux), gcm python (for Windows) returns the same python path as pip show.

Both of these paths suggest MacOS, not Windows or Linux, though you're likely right that the asker is probably mixing up two different python installations — KevinOrr, Nov 20 '22 at 14:54

Django postgres psycopg2: ImproperlyConfigure even though module installed

1 Answers1