Certbot: zope.interface error

What is the output of /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip freeze | grep -i interface?

/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip freeze | grep -i interface
You are using pip version 8.0.3, however version 8.1.1 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'pip install --upgrade pip' command.

/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip list
acme (0.5.0)
ConfigArgParse (0.10.0)
configobj (5.0.6)
enum34 (1.1.2)
funcsigs (0.4)
idna (2.0)
ipaddress (1.0.16)
letsencrypt (0.5.0)
letsencrypt-apache (0.5.0)
linecache2 (1.0.0)
mock (1.0.1)
ndg-httpsclient (0.4.0)
ordereddict (1.1)
parsedatetime (2.1)
pbr (1.8.1)
pip (8.0.3)
pyasn1 (0.1.9)
pycparser (2.14)
pyOpenSSL (0.15.1)
pyRFC3339 (1.0)
python-augeas (0.5.0)
python2-pythondialog (3.3.0)
pytz (2015.7)
requests (2.9.1)
setuptools (20.2.2)
six (1.10.0)
traceback2 (1.4.0)
unittest2 (1.1.0)
wheel (0.29.0)
zope.component (4.2.2)
zope.event (4.1.0)
You are using pip version 8.0.3, however version 8.1.1 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'pip install --upgrade pip' command.

It appears zope.interface was not installed. This is strange.

I recommend:

1. Running rm -rf /root/.local/share/letsencrypt. This removes your installation of letsencrypt, but keeps all configuration files, certificates, logs, etc.
2. Make sure you have an up to date copy of letsencrypt-auto. It can be found here.
3. Run letsencrypt-auto again.

If you get the same behavior, you can try installing zope.interface manually by running:

/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip install zope.interface

[root@letsencrypt]# ./letsencrypt-auto --help --debug
Checking for new version...
Creating virtual environment...
Installing Python packages...
Installation succeeded.
Requesting root privileges to run letsencrypt...
/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt --help --debug
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt", line 7, in
from letsencrypt.main import main
File "/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/letsencrypt/main.py", line 11, in
import zope.component
File "/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/zope/component/init.py", line 16, in
from zope.interface import Interface
ImportError: No module named interface
[root@letsencrypt]# /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip install zope.interface
Collecting zope.interface
Requirement already satisfied (use --upgrade to upgrade): setuptools in /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/lib/python2.7/dist-packages (from zope.interface)
Installing collected packages: zope.interface
Successfully installed zope.interface
You are using pip version 8.0.3, however version 8.1.1 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'pip install --upgrade pip' command.

Linux ip-10-11-180-115 3.14.20-20.44.amzn1.x86_64 #1 SMP Mon Oct 6 22:52:46 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I had already been these alternatives. unsuccessfully

And after doing /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip install zope.interface, letsencrypt-auto still errors out with ImportError: No module named interface?

Yes. still doesn't work.

Looks like dupe of #2823. There are some known issues with AMIs which have not yet been resolved. Some people have had success with this comment.

shit :P

I dosen't find this post. But , it works.

# pip install pip --upgrade
# pip install virtualenv --upgrade
# virtualenv -p /usr/bin/python27 venv27
# . venv27/bin/activate
# git clone https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt
# cd letsencrypt
# ./letsencrypt-auto certonly --debug --standalone -d

https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt/issues/1680#issuecomment-170641501

thanks.

Great! I'm glad it works.

For me This cmd resolved the problem :
sudo unset PYTHON_INSTALL_LAYOUT

@rmed19 that worked for me too, thanks!

pip install --upgrade pip
and
pip install virtualenv --upgrade
then
./certbot-auto renew
did work

I just had to update stuff as @nohona pointed out. Question is, is there anyway to prevent this from happening? I have been successful for a while on this server until today, which required me to run these update commands.

None of the above working for me…

$ pip install --upgrade pip
Requirement already up-to-date: pip in /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages
$ pip install virtualenv --upgrade
Requirement already up-to-date: virtualenv in ./.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages
$ cd letsencrypt/
$ ./certbot-auto renew
Error: couldn't get currently installed version for /home/ec2-user/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt", line 7, in <module>
    from certbot.main import main
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/share/letsencrypt/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/certbot/main.py", line 11, in <module>
    import zope.component
  File "/home/ec2-user/.local/share/letsencrypt/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/zope/component/__init__.py", line 16, in <module>
    from zope.interface import Interface
ImportError: No module named interface

I'm running into this same problem:

[root@www ec2-user]# /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip -V
pip 9.0.1 from /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages (python 2.7)
[root@www ec2-user]# pip -V
pip 9.0.1 from /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages (python 2.7)
[root@www ec2-user]# /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip install virtualenv --upgrade
Collecting virtualenv
  Using cached virtualenv-15.1.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Installing collected packages: virtualenv
Successfully installed virtualenv-15.1.0
[root@www ec2-user]# /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip install zope.interface
Collecting zope.interface
Requirement already satisfied: setuptools in /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/lib/python2.7/dist-packages (from zope.interface)
Installing collected packages: zope.interface
Successfully installed zope.interface-4.3.3
[root@www ec2-user]# pip install virtualenv --upgrade
Requirement already up-to-date: virtualenv in /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages
[root@www ec2-user]# /home/ec2-user/certbot-auto renew --debug
Error: couldn't get currently installed version for /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt: 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt", line 7, in <module>
    from certbot.main import main
  File "/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/certbot/main.py", line 11, in <module>
    import zope.component
  File "/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/zope/component/__init__.py", line 16, in <module>
    from zope.interface import Interface
ImportError: No module named interface
[root@www ec2-user]# 

Same problem on Digital Ocean:
./certbot-auto renew Error: couldn't get currently installed version for /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt", line 7, in <module> from certbot.main import main ...
I think it's a problem with 0.11.1 but I'm not sure why yet.

None of the solutions so far work for me to renew my cert. However, using a Docker solution worked like a charm though. About 15 seconds of down-time. Thanks Dockerhub user gzm55

Install docker, then:
pull gzm55/certbot

Bring your server down temporarily to free up port 443 (apache stop or pm2 stop, etc), then run this (change "YOUR_DOMAIN.COM"):
docker run -it --rm --net host -v /etc/letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt -v /var/lib/letsencrypt:/var/lib/letsencrypt gzm55/certbot certonly --standalone --text -d YOUR_DOMAIN.COM "$@"

Then start your server back up.

I was able to work around my issue by starting over with the certbot installation and renewal process following current instructions on the website from the beginning. I think the problem arose somewhere after updates to the underlying tools and since it had been so long since installing initially.

I am having this problem now. I have removed & reinstalled letsencrypt & certbot but consistently get the message...

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/letsencrypt", line 7, in <module> from certbot.main import main File "/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/certbot/main.py", line 11, in <module> import zope.component File "/root/.local/share/letsencrypt/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/zope/component/__init__.py", line 16, in <module> from zope.interface import Interface ImportError: No module named interface

I have tried.... pip install zope.interface the only effect of which is to speed up the reporting of the above error.

Any advice much appreciated, my Cert expires in 24Hrs.

I ran into the same issue on Amazon Linux today. Executing certbot-auto with sudo fixed it for me.

I'm running as root on Amazon Linux. This is a renewal; original cert installation was fine on this same machine. I'm not sure what would have changed.

I tried the above steps of updating pip and virtualenv... no luck. :-( Cert expires in 9 days.

I had lots of hassle, but found the following better than the CLI for my purposes.

https://github.com/Daplie/node-greenlock

This sequence of commands seems to have fixed the issue on my AWS instance:

sudo yum install python-virtualenv python27-virtualenv "python*zope*"
rm -rf ~/.local/share/letsencrypt
./certbot-auto --debug renew

Some of the installed packages might be redundant.

I also executed:

~/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip install pip --upgrade
~/.local/share/letsencrypt/bin/pip install virtualenv --upgrade

but it seems to have had no effect.

The following gist worked for me:

$ sudo -H pip install zope.interface -U
$ sudo -H pip install certbot -U

e.g. I had to "upgrade" certbot after installing zope.interface, even though I already installed certbot previously.

For anyone still having issues with AWS ami you can use following commands:

To create new Certificates:
unset PYTHON_INSTALL_LAYOUT; rm -rf /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/; /root/certbot-auto --debug;

To renew your certificates.

unset PYTHON_INSTALL_LAYOUT; rm -rf /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/; /root/certbot-auto --debug renew;

Part of the issue for me was related to some strange default behavior around 64 bit packages.

cd /root/.local/share/letsencrypt
\cp -r ./venv/lib64/* ./venv/lib/

Actually fixed the problem

Just to add some colour to the solution @lifeofguenter posted - solution for me on AWS linux when my update script fails seems to be different every time! This time, logged in as root sudo su - and a variety of updates did not work. Constantly getting zope.interface not set.

The solution last tried, which worked, was:

$ pip install zope.interface -U
$ pip install certbot -U

No sudo-ing (using as root)

But then ./certbot-auto --debug renew failed again with the no zope interface message. I then tried sudo ./certbot-auto --debug renew and this worked. Not clear why, it sort of shouldn't have. It hadn't worked before!

At some stage, I saw a reference to pip v 6.1.6 popping up, so its in there somewhere, but I removed and reinstalled all relevant stuff. AWS + root / sudo / letsencrypt maybe storing a dependency somewhere along the chain which is not updated when pip is updating?

thank you @ilamp ! worked like a charm

I'm using AWS Linux and had the same issue: "No module named interface error". I did the what @ilamp proposed, but it didn't work. After I did the following, the issue was resolved:

$ rm -rf /opt/eff.org

Another update, since the install locations are different, again my issue was around the install location of the 64 bit packages on AWS by PIP. This was fixed by installing once and then running

\cp -r /opt/eff.org/certbot/venv/lib64/* /opt/eff.org/certbot/venv/lib/

The location may need to change as the location of the installation files move with updates, but the general fix remained the same.

This was on an AWS AMI instance.

So I think I've figured out what the problem is: Anything that has C source or headers gets built 64-bit and placed in /lib64 dist-packages, anything that doesn't lands in /lib. That means cffi, cryptography, and zope.interface, and they have to be rebuilt as 32-bit to work, or else run as 64-bit as Namingwaysway's method does (since it copies over 64-bit Python entirely).

I was regularly doing the certbot-auto renew on an amazon ami.
One day it stopped working with that error.
All I had to do is:

rm -rf ~/.local/share/letsencrypt
 sudo ./certbot-auto renew --debug

Still seems to be an issue when renewing - even with

rm -rf ~/.local/share/letsencrypt
 sudo ./certbot-auto renew --debug

and/or

unset PYTHON_INSTALL_LAYOUT; rm -rf /root/.local/share/letsencrypt/; /root/certbot-auto --debug renew;

As I've only got 24 hrs to renew this cert I think I'll just manually install the cert using a trusted CA instead as it seems to be a smoother process for AMI instances, it would be good to get this working smoothly though.

EDIT: just as a final attempt after posting this I tried

$ rm -rf /opt/eff.org

As per 0xnm's comment, this seemed to work ! Thanks