I tried both the sys.path and the $PYTHONPATH solutions, but they didn t seem to work. I didn t try adding PythonPath to httpd.conf or python.conf - that could have worked.

I ended up asking a root user to run # python setup.py install for me. That worked.

I was using Python 2.3.

Maybe it s the problem with setting correct sys.path while running from shell vs from web server.

More about sys.path here: sys module.

I d recomend to try adding ~/httpdocs/python-libraries/feedparser-4.1/ (best using full path, without ~/) to your sys.path before the import.

import sys
sys.path.append( /home/user/httpdocs/python-libraries/feedparser-4.1/ )
print "Content-type: text/html

"
try:
    import feedparser
except:
    print "Cannot import feedparser.
"

Oh, and by the way, the httpdocs seems like a document root for your web server. Is it the best idea to put the library there? (well, unless there s the only place you can use...)

edit (as a general note)

It s best to avoid the syntax like:

try:
  something
except:
  print "error"

This gives you absolutly no information about the actual error you encounter. You can assume that if you try to import a module, you have ImportError there, but can t be sure.

This makes debugging a real hell. Been there, done that, have lost dozens of hours due to this :)

Whenever you can, try catching one exception type at a time. So:

try:
  import SomeModule
except ImportError:
  print "SomeModule can t be imported"

You can also get familiar with the traceback module. It s in the standard library and it s there so you can use it. So, your exception handling code could be something like this:

sys.path.append( /home/user/httpdocs/python-libraries/feedparser-4.1/ )
try:
  import feedparser
except ImportError:
  print "Content-type: text/plain

" # text/plain so we get the stacktrace printed well
  import traceback
  import sys
  traceback.print_exc(sys.stdout) # default is sys.stderr, which is error log in case of web server running your script, we want it on standart output
  sys.exit(1)
# here goes your code to execute when all is ok, including:
print "Content-type: text/html

"

Sounds like a PYTHONPATH problem. Try changing the code to this and see what happens:

import sys
print "Content-type: text/html

"
try:
    print sys.path
    import feedparser
except:
    print "Cannot import feedparser.
"
    print sys.path

This probably will show that your ~/httpdocs/python-libraries/ directory is not in the path and you will need to either change sys.path or arrage for a PYTHONPATH environment variable, to correct the problem.

When you change the path, make sure that you use the full directory name, not the ~ shortcut.

Rather than catching the exception yourself, use the cgitb module just once at the top of your program, and you ll get better information about all errors.

import cgitb
cgitb.enable()