[FIXED] "ValueError: _type_ 'v' not supported" error after installing PyReadline

Issue

After I installed PyReadline, IPython won't work. When I uninstalled it, it starts working again.

The stack trace for ipython:

(py2.7_monitor)[root@vm10-136-8-98 monitor]# ipython
WARNING: IPython History requires SQLite, your history will not be saved
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/bin/ipython", line 11, in <module>
    sys.exit(start_ipython())
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/__init__.py", line 118, in start_ipython
    return launch_new_instance(argv=argv, **kwargs)
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/traitlets/config/application.py", line 591, in launch_instance
    app.initialize(argv)
  File "<string>", line 2, in initialize
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/traitlets/config/application.py", line 75, in catch_config_error
    return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/terminal/ipapp.py", line 314, in initialize
    self.init_shell()
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/terminal/ipapp.py", line 330, in init_shell
    ipython_dir=self.ipython_dir, user_ns=self.user_ns)
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/traitlets/config/configurable.py", line 380, in instance
    inst = cls(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py", line 531, in __init__
    self.init_readline()
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py", line 1941, in init_readline
    import IPython.utils.rlineimpl as readline
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/utils/rlineimpl.py", line 21, in <module>
    _rl = __import__(_rlmod_name)
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/readline.py", line 6, in <module>
    from pyreadline.rlmain import Readline
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyreadline/__init__.py", line 12, in <module>
    from . import logger, clipboard, lineeditor, modes, console
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyreadline/clipboard/__init__.py", line 13, in <module>
    from .win32_clipboard import GetClipboardText, SetClipboardText
  File "/home/py2.7_monitor/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyreadline/clipboard/win32_clipboard.py", line 37, in <module>
    import ctypes.wintypes as wintypes
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/ctypes/wintypes.py", line 23, in <module>
    class VARIANT_BOOL(_SimpleCData):
ValueError: _type_ 'v' not supported

Solution

As stated on their site, the PyReadline library is Used for Windows.

Looking at the last lines of your stack trace:

import ctypes.wintypes as wintypes
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/ctypes/wintypes.py", line 23, in <module>
class VARIANT_BOOL(_SimpleCData):
ValueError: _type_ 'v' not supported

It is trying to import windows specific data types from ctypes which is obviously not possible since you are not running Windows.

Answered By - Dimitris Fasarakis Hilliard