[Mailman-Users] (python?) troubles installing mailman 2.1.1

[Nico Alberti]

Hi everybody. I probably have a python issue, so excuse me if I post here

I am trying to install mailman 2.1.1 on a fresh stock Mandrake 9.1 (gcc
3.2.2, python 2.2.2) but, I cannot make it start.

mailmanctl start dies with this error message:

'import site' failed; use -v for traceback
Could not find platform dependent libraries <exec_prefix>
Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to <prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]
'import site' failed; use -v for traceback
Traceback (most recent call last):
Could not find platform independent libraries <prefix>
Could not find platform dependent libraries <exec_prefix>
Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to <prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]
Traceback (most recent call last):
'import site' failed; use -v for traceback
   File "/var/mailman/bin/qrunner", line 72, in ?
     import getopt
ImportError: No module named getopt
   File "/var/mailman/bin/qrunner", line 72, in ?
     import getopt
[cut]

In previous messages I read that a similar error could be caused by a
bad python installation, but this is the diagnostic output that was
suggested: I don't see anything wrong (but I don't know python at all, 
so maybe someone else may notice something odd in the lines below):

python -v
# /usr/lib/python2.2/site.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.2/site.py
import site # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.2/site.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.2/os.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.2/os.py
import os # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.2/os.pyc
import posix # builtin
# /usr/lib/python2.2/posixpath.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.2/posixpath.py
import posixpath # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.2/posixpath.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.2/stat.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.2/stat.py
import stat # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.2/stat.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.2/UserDict.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.2/UserDict.py
import UserDict # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.2/UserDict.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.2/copy_reg.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.2/copy_reg.py
import copy_reg # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.2/copy_reg.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.2/types.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.2/types.py
import types # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.2/types.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.2/__future__.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.2/__future__.py
import __future__ # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.2/__future__.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.2/string.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.2/string.py
import string # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.2/string.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.2/lib-dynload/strop.so", 2);
import strop # dynamically loaded from
/usr/lib/python2.2/lib-dynload/strop.so
Python 2.2.2 (#2, Feb  5 2003, 10:40:08)
[GCC 3.2.1 (Mandrake Linux 9.1 3.2.1-5mdk)] on linux-i386
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.2/lib-dynload/readline.so", 2);
import readline # dynamically loaded from
/usr/lib/python2.2/lib-dynload/readline.so
>>> import site
>>> site.__file__
'/usr/lib/python2.2/site.pyc'
>>> ^Z
# clear __builtin__._
# clear sys.path
# clear sys.argv
# clear sys.ps1
# clear sys.ps2
# clear sys.exitfunc
# clear sys.exc_type
# clear sys.exc_value
# clear sys.exc_traceback
# clear sys.last_type
# clear sys.last_value
# clear sys.last_traceback
# restore sys.stdin
# restore sys.stdout
# restore sys.stderr
# cleanup __main__
# cleanup[1] __future__
# cleanup[1] signal
# cleanup[1] site
# cleanup[1] posix
# cleanup[1] types
# cleanup[1] exceptions
# cleanup[1] strop
# cleanup[1] readline
# cleanup[1] string
# cleanup[2] stat
# cleanup[2] copy_reg
# cleanup[2] posixpath
# cleanup[2] UserDict
# cleanup[2] os
# cleanup[2] os.path
# cleanup sys
# cleanup __builtin__
# cleanup ints: 4 unfreed ints in 1 out of 5 blocks
# cleanup floats


Can anybody give me a hint? On different Mandrake distributions 2.1b ran
like a charm.

Thanks in advance, and apologies for the long post