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I get the following error in various situations, for example when I try to start a package that is not installed:

   $ tldr
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "/usr/lib/command-not-found", line 28, in <module>
        from CommandNotFound import CommandNotFound
      File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/CommandNotFound/CommandNotFound.py", line 19, in <module>
        from CommandNotFound.db.db import SqliteDatabase
      File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/CommandNotFound/db/db.py", line 5, in <module>

    import apt_pkg
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'apt_pkg'
Error in sys.excepthook:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport_python_hook.py", line 63, in apport_excepthook
    from apport.fileutils import likely_packaged, get_recent_crashes
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport/__init__.py", line 5, in <module>
    from apport.report import Report
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport/report.py", line 30, in <module>
    import apport.fileutils
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport/fileutils.py", line 23, in <module>
    from apport.packaging_impl import impl as packaging
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport/packaging_impl.py", line 24, in <module>
    import apt
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/__init__.py", line 23, in <module>
    import apt_pkg
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'apt_pkg'

Original exception was:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/command-not-found", line 28, in <module>
    from CommandNotFound import CommandNotFound
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/CommandNotFound/CommandNotFound.py", line 19, in <module>
    from CommandNotFound.db.db import SqliteDatabase
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/CommandNotFound/db/db.py", line 5, in <module>
    import apt_pkg
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'apt_pkg'

I've tried the solution in https://askubuntu.com/questions/1190328/modulenotfounderror-no-module-named-apt-pkg but that didn't help. I've also tried installing and reinstalling different versions of python, and change the update-alternatives links. I suspect that I somehow ruined the configuration of the python the OS uses.

Some general info:

$ cat /etc/os-release
NAME="KDE neon"
VERSION="5.18"
ID=neon
ID_LIKE="ubuntu debian"
PRETTY_NAME="KDE neon User Edition 5.18"
VARIANT="User Edition"
VERSION_ID="18.04"
HOME_URL="http://neon.kde.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://neon.kde.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.kde.org/"
LOGO=start-here-kde-neon
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
VERSION_CODENAME=bionic
UBUNTU_CODENAME=bionic

python2:

$ update-alternative s --config python
    There is only one alternative in link group python (providing /usr/bin/python): /usr/bin/python2.7
    Nothing to configure.

$ python --version
Python 2.7.17

python3:

$ update-alternatives --config python3
There is only one alternative in link group python3 (providing /usr/bin/python3): /usr/bin/python3.7
Nothing to configure.

$ python3 --version
Python 3.7.5
Gal
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    In my case, none of the solutions for various questions worked. However, after reading your question, I did check for the python version and realized it was set to 3.7: moving to 3.6 fixed the issue. – Antonio Sesto Feb 27 '22 at 14:56

1 Answers1

25

Original answer from https://askubuntu.com/q/1242009/747557, credit to @Hmdbbgh. The solution that worked for me was to reinstall python3-apt:

sudo apt remove python3-apt
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt autoclean
sudo apt install python3-apt
Gal
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