Error then running certbot

[JonathanNetdk]

I ran this command: certbot

It produced this output:

:~# certbot
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/certbot", line 11, in <module>
    load_entry_point('certbot==0.40.0', 'console_scripts', 'certbot')()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 490, in load_entry_point
    return get_distribution(dist).load_entry_point(group, name)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2854, in load_entry_point
    return ep.load()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2445, in load
    return self.resolve()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2451, in resolve
    module = __import__(self.module_name, fromlist=['__name__'], level=0)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/main.py", line 10, in <module>
    import josepy as jose
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/josepy/__init__.py", line 41, in <module>
    from josepy.interfaces import JSONDeSerializable
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/josepy/interfaces.py", line 7, in <module>
    from josepy import errors, util
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/josepy/util.py", line 7, in <module>
    import OpenSSL
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/OpenSSL/__init__.py", line 8, in <module>
    from OpenSSL import crypto, SSL
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/OpenSSL/crypto.py", line 12, in <module>
    from cryptography import x509
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cryptography/x509/__init__.py", line 8, in <module>
    from cryptography.x509.base import (
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cryptography/x509/base.py", line 18, in <module>
    from cryptography.x509.extensions import Extension, ExtensionType
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cryptography/x509/extensions.py", line 20, in <module>
    from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import constant_time, serialization
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cryptography/hazmat/primitives/constant_time.py", line 11, in <module>
    from cryptography.hazmat.bindings._constant_time import lib
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_cffi_backend'

My web server is (include version):

Server version: Apache/2.4.41 (Ubuntu)
Server built: 2021-09-28T11:00:45

The operating system my web server runs on is (include version):

Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS

I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don't know): Yes

I'm using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel):

ISPConfig

[9peppe]

@JonathanNetdk

certbot==0.40.0

This isn't a very recent release, it's two+ years old.

How did you install certbot?

[JonathanNetdk]

It was the script for installing ISPConfig as hosting panel

[9peppe]

Did you upgrade python on your server, by any chance?

@JonathanNetdk

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_cffi_backend'

Googling this error points to a mismatch between python and its packages.

[JonathanNetdk]

Yeah I upgrade it to python 3.9

[9peppe]

That's probably it.

[rg305]

Ubuntu supports snapd
Please uninstall the apt version of certbot and then follow these instructions:
Certbot Instructions | Certbot (eff.org)

[9peppe]

It probably came with ispconfig and it looks like it's installed via pip. Maybe updating the pip packages will solve this issue, bit it could just as well break ispconfig entirely.

[Osiris]

If ISPConfig installed Certbot in a virtual environment specific for use by ISPConfig, it's also ISPConfigs responsibility to have a sane and valid working environment for Certbot.

However, from the log it seems Certbot was installed globally (/usr/bin/certbot) and also the josepy dependency seems to be system wide installed. I'm not sure how you determined Certbot was installed using pip?

[9peppe]

I assumed it was and I didn't trust ispconfig to do it properly.