No module named 'gdbm'

Question

I just finished installing python 3.5.1 on my Ubuntu, but am faced with this error message, regardless if I'm installing with Anaconda or with apt-get:

No module named 'gdbm'

that normally displays on my terminal. I have also tried installing gdbm using:

sudo apt-get install gdbm

but doesn't solve the problem. Can I get a help on how to fix this problem from anyone here?

Hi Asogwa, not sure about your latest comment below my answer; did you get it to work? Please let me know. — Jacob Vlijm, Jan 13 '16 at 08:44
How are you installing? Are you doing it with Anaconda or some other way? — Seanny123, Jan 13 '16 at 17:34
I am not yet able to install Anaconda because when ever I want to install Anaconda I get the same "error No module named 'gdbm'" — Asogwa Chukwuemeka Martins, Jan 13 '16 at 17:39
Sorry, I'm still a bit confused. Anaconda is a package that contains Python3. So are you installing Anaconda or are you installing Python3 separately. — Seanny123, Jan 13 '16 at 17:43
This might be a bug to report to the Anaconda people then... Have you tried other versions of Anaconda? Such as the one for Python 3.4? — Seanny123, Jan 13 '16 at 17:49
Have you tried installing Python without Anaconda and just with apt-get? — Seanny123, Jan 13 '16 at 18:15
Also, have you finished installing Python or are you trying to install Python. Your working has confused me a bit. — Seanny123, Jan 13 '16 at 19:04
Please [edit] your question, when you want to add information. It's best to have everything relevant in one place. Also, comments may be deleted for various reasons. — David Foerster, Jan 13 '16 at 19:43

score 61 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 20 '16 at 06:31

61

sudo apt-get install python3.5-gdbm

helped me

answered Apr 20 '16 at 06:31

Klesun

701

8

Of course, the same pattern applies for python 3.6. – SteveJ Dec 14 '17 at 21:56
What to do in case of Unable to locate package python3.6-gdbm? I tried to add a new repository, but the initial error appears again. – JCarlosR Mar 22 '19 at 03:34
1

and the same pattern for python3.7-gdbm for me – Grijesh Chauhan May 10 '19 at 06:29
1

For python 3.6 use sudo apt-get install python3.6-gdbm – unixeo Oct 13 '19 at 18:25

score 34 · Answer 2 · answered May 09 '18 at 23:02

In my case, if I tried running any command that doesn't exist in a bash shell I would get this gross error:

$ programthatdoesntexist
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/dbm/gnu.py", line 4, in <module>
    from _gdbm import *
ImportError: No module named '_gdbm'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/CommandNotFound/CommandNotFound.py", line 7, in <module>
    import dbm.gnu as gdbm
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/dbm/gnu.py", line 6, in <module>
    raise ImportError(str(msg) + ', please install the python3-gdbm package')
ImportError: No module named '_gdbm', please install the python3-gdbm package

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/command-not-found", line 27, in <module>
    from CommandNotFound.util import crash_guard
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/CommandNotFound/__init__.py", line 3, in <module>
    from CommandNotFound.CommandNotFound import CommandNotFound
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/CommandNotFound/CommandNotFound.py", line 9, in <module>
    import gdbm
ImportError: No module named 'gdbm'

None of the answers above worked in my case. Although this problem has been solved, this might help someone. If you are still having this issue, maybe this will help:

I had installed python3.6 from the repository ppa.launchpad.net/jonathonf/python-3.6/ubuntu , and apparently that broke some things.

When tying to reinstall the packages command-not-found python3-commandnotfound python3-gdbm python3-gdbm-dbg sessioninstaller, I noticed that apt was pulling sources from here:

Get:1 http://ppa.launchpad.net/jonathonf/python-3.6/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 python3-gdbm amd64 3.6.5-3~16.04.york0.2 [14.6 kB]

To fix the issue, I simply removed that repository:

sed -i ' s/^/#/' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jonathonf-ubuntu-python-3_6-xenial.list

And than re-ran this command (as root):

apt update ; apt purge python3-gdbm ; apt install command-not-found python3-commandnotfound python3-gdbm python3-gdbm-dbg sessioninstaller

Now, everything works again:

$ lol
No command 'lol' found, did you mean:
 Command 'sol' from package 'aisleriot' (main)
 Command 'col' from package 'bsdmainutils' (main)
lol: command not found

I just had the same on 16.04 LTS. I think looking at the timing of your answer a new update either in the jonathonf repo or standard repos has a conflict. Since I moved to pyenv for my Python versions anyway, getting rid of the jonathonf repository is probably a good idea for me. — Phil, May 10 '18 at 08:37
Thanks. Just a note that people might also notice the crash report app firing because command-not-found is failing. — jamesc, May 12 '18 at 16:49
Had the same problem, and this solution worked. At the same time, python3.6 -m venv was broken for me. Changing to the deadsnakes repository solved all my issues. See also https://stackoverflow.com/a/50197283/7599943 — Jonas Dahlbæk, May 15 '18 at 10:23
sudo ppa-purge ppa:jonathonf/python-3.6 fixed it for me (it reinstalled the necessary packages automatically). — jfs, May 16 '18 at 11:28

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 13 '16 at 00:12

9

Have you tried installing the package python3-gdbm

sudo apt-get install python3-gdbm

answered Jan 13 '16 at 00:12

squareborg

10,517

5

Yes, I did that, but still giving me the same error message. – Asogwa Chukwuemeka Martins Jan 13 '16 at 02:39
This is because there is no module named gdbm any more. Use _gdbm. – Matthias Urlichs Dec 13 '18 at 07:00

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 01 '19 at 12:12

8

Depending on version of python you recently installed, ONE of the following:

sudo apt-get install python3.5-gdbm
sudo apt-get install python3.6-gdbm
sudo apt-get install python3.7-gdbm

answered Aug 01 '19 at 12:12

user1857492

597

doesn't work for python 3.8 – Siddharth Vashishtha Sep 06 '21 at 19:03

score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 29 '17 at 07:31

6

I have python 3.6 install and working i have tried many things but

sudo apt-get install python3.6-gdbm

This command worked for me

answered Dec 29 '17 at 07:31

Vishal Patel

171

score 2 · Answer 6 · edited May 16 '18 at 06:17

I had the same issue and got it solved by:

sudo apt install python3-gdbm=3.5.1-1
dpkg -L python3-gdbm

running synaptic, for something else, displayed that python3-gdbm needed an update. I allowed synaptic to make the update and: Now I get the same issue back.

When running above commands again I get as message, in the terminal, for the first command: The following packages will be DOWNGRADED : python3-gdbm. After answering Y to the question if I want to continue, traceback works again.

So there is clearly something wrong (bug) in the latest version of python3-gdbm.

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered May 07 '18 at 06:03

1

sudo apt install python3-django

helped me

answered May 07 '18 at 06:03

zxdc

11

4

Hi zxdc, you might want to explain your answer. Does installing django also install gdbm somehow? – Hee Jin May 08 '18 at 15:37

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 08 '18 at 17:54

0

I had this error when I had forgot to activate a Python virtual environment that was used with the command I was trying to run (The tx command in my case).

answered Oct 08 '18 at 17:54

Orienteerix

103
6

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Aug 31 '20 at 01:53

0

The correct answer is to install the python-gdbm package for your version of python. In the error trace if you see python3.8 then you need to run sudo apt-get install python3.8-gdbm and so on.

edited Aug 31 '20 at 01:53

Zanna

70,465

answered Aug 31 '20 at 00:29

Anon

1

strongpapazola · Answer 10 · 2020-11-25T09:24:52.687

$ whatever
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/dbm/gnu.py", line 4, in 
    from _gdbm import *
ImportError: No module named '_gdbm'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/CommandNotFound/CommandNotFound.py", line 7, in 
    import dbm.gnu as gdbm
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/dbm/gnu.py", line 6, in 
    raise ImportError(str(msg) + ', please install the python3-gdbm package')
ImportError: No module named '_gdbm', please install the python3-gdbm package

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/command-not-found", line 27, in 
    from CommandNotFound.util import crash_guard
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/CommandNotFound/__init__.py", line 3, in 
    from CommandNotFound.CommandNotFound import CommandNotFound
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/CommandNotFound/CommandNotFound.py", line 9, in 
    import gdbm
ImportError: No module named 'gdbm'

remove gdbm first

apt remove --purge python3-gdbm

install again

apt install python3-gdbm

its work for me

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Feb 22 '22 at 08:08

use this command to show which python3-gdbm has been installed:

apt search gdbm | grep python

if there is python-gdbm installed which is not matched with the python3, such as python3.6-gdbm. You can use this command to remove this missing matched one:

sudo apt autoremove python3.6-gdbm

score -2 · Answer 12 · answered Mar 31 '21 at 16:16

-2

sudo apt-get install python3.6-gdbm

this command worked for me finally

step 1

step2

answered Mar 31 '21 at 16:16

Shipan Liu

1

No module named 'gdbm'

12 Answers12

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