How to run Python within a virtualenv with WSGI?

Question

I'm trying to run Python within a sandbox using WSGI and Apache.

1. I created the virtual environment:

   virtualenv /var/www/demo-environment --python /usr/bin/python3.3
   

2. I also created the following /var/www/demo.py file:

   #!/usr/bin/env python
   import sys
   def application(environ, start_response):
    start_response('200 OK', [('Content-Type', 'text/plain')])
    return "Running " + str(sys.version_info)
   

3. Finally, I changed Apache configuration like this:

   WSGIPythonPath /var/www/demo-environment/lib/python3.3/site-packages/
   WSGIDaemonProcess example.com python-path=/var/www/demo-environment/lib/python3.3/site-packages/
   WSGIProcessGroup example.com
   WSGIScriptAlias / /var/www/demo.py
   

When going to the home page of the website, it shows the following contents: Running sys.version_info(major=2, minor=7, micro=5, releaselevel='final', serial=0), indicating that while Python works, it is not called within a virtual environment.

Since this is the wrong way to enable virtualenv, which is the right one?

Answer 1

Just use the setting WSGIPythonHome to specify the root of your env:

WSGIPythonHome /home/grapsus/work/python/env
WSGIScriptAlias /demo /home/grapsus/work/python/demo.py

I modified your script to print sys.path:

Running ['/home/grapsus/work/python/env/lib/python2.7', ...

• Arseni Mourzenko: With WSGIPythonHome, Apache doesn't respond to browser requests and is stuck with "ImportError: No module named site" warning added to error.log once per second before even the first request.
• Arseni Mourzenko: Found it. It works with Python 2. Looks like mod_wsgi supports Python 3 on paper, but is not implemented, at least not in Ubuntu 13.10 with Apache 2.4.6 and mod_wsgi 3.4.
• Grapsus: I didn't manage to make it work with Python3 either. I used the latest version of modWSGI, so it's probably a lack of support for Python3 on its side.