Why can't I install the openstack nova client on OS X?

Question

I am attempting to install the openstack nova client on my Mac (10.4.8)

nova = https://github.com/openstack/python-novaclient#command-line-api

python --version
Python 2.7.2

I successfully got nova installed (after installing pip)

When I run the client, I get the following error

foo@bar-macbook-pro:~$ nova
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/nova", line 6, in <module>
    from novaclient.shell import main
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/novaclient/__init__.py", line 15, in <module>
    import pbr.version
ImportError: No module named pbr.version

In my research, I have found conflicting information about pbr, some say it is required for nova, while others say it isn't required for nova.

https://github.com/rackspace/pyrax/issues/121

When I attempt to install pbr, I see the following error.

foo@bar-macbook-pro:~$ sudo python ~/Downloads/pbr/setup.py  install
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "setup.py", line 22, in <module>
    **util.cfg_to_args())
  File "/Volumes/WDBlack750/spencerowen/Downloads/pbr/pbr/util.py", line 241, in cfg_to_args
    pbr.hooks.setup_hook(config)
  File "/Volumes/WDBlack750/spencerowen/Downloads/pbr/pbr/hooks/__init__.py", line 27, in setup_hook
    metadata_config.run()
  File "/Volumes/WDBlack750/spencerowen/Downloads/pbr/pbr/hooks/base.py", line 29, in run
    self.hook()
  File "/Volumes/WDBlack750/spencerowen/Downloads/pbr/pbr/hooks/metadata.py", line 28, in hook
    self.config['name'], self.config.get('version', None))
  File "/Volumes/WDBlack750/spencerowen/Downloads/pbr/pbr/packaging.py", line 817, in get_version
    version = _get_version_from_git(pre_version)
  File "/Volumes/WDBlack750/spencerowen/Downloads/pbr/pbr/packaging.py", line 776, in _get_version_from_git
    "git --git-dir=\"" + git_dir + "\" describe --always").replace(
  File "/Volumes/WDBlack750/spencerowen/Downloads/pbr/pbr/packaging.py", line 220, in _run_shell_command
    stderr=err_location)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 679, in __init__
    errread, errwrite)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 1228, in _execute_child
    raise child_exception
TypeError: must be encoded string without NULL bytes, not str

Is there anything apparent that would explain why I can not get the library installed?

Surely I must not be the first person to try and install nova on OS X.

Answer 1

I did the install based on venv:

virtualenv venv_name
source venv_name/bin/activate
pip install python-novaclient fabric

In my case, I had a mixup in which python I was using by way of fabric being installed globally.

Prior: rf -rf all my virtualenvs, rf -rf all references to novaclient (locally, and globally), and deleted a global install of fabric which was calling the novaclient.

Also as a precaution, I do not install pip globally, and only use it without sudo in virtualenvs.

Answer 2

Over a year later, I finally got this working on OS X Yosemite

sudo pip install python-novaclient

I did not have to install pbr.