No module named '_cffi_backend' when running certbot command

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1

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My domain is: no domain name yet because currently setting up

I ran this command:
sudo certbot --nginx -d sonarqube.dev.xxx.com

It produced this output:
..........
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/certbot", line 11, in
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
import josepy as jose
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/josepy/init.py", line 41, in
from josepy.interfaces import JSONDeSerializable
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/josepy/interfaces.py", line 7, in
from josepy import errors, util
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/josepy/util.py", line 7, in
import OpenSSL
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/OpenSSL/init.py", line 8, in
from OpenSSL import crypto, SSL
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/OpenSSL/crypto.py", line 12, in
from cryptography import x509
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cryptography/x509/init.py", line 8, in
from cryptography.x509.base import (
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cryptography/x509/base.py", line 18, in
from cryptography.x509.extensions import Extension, ExtensionType
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cryptography/x509/extensions.py", line 20, in
from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import constant_time, serialization
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cryptography/hazmat/primitives/constant_time.py", line 11, in
from cryptography.hazmat.bindings._constant_time import lib
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_cffi_backend'
.......
My web server is (include version):
nginx version: nginx/1.18.0 (Ubuntu)

The operating system my web server runs on is (include version):
Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS

My hosting provider, if applicable, is:
Digital Ocean

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):
No
The version of my client is (e.g. output of certbot --version or certbot-auto --version if you're using Certbot):
certbot is already the newest version (0.40.0-1ubuntu0.1).

2

Perhaps try:

apt-get -y reinstall python3-cffi-backend libffi7 python3-cryptography libssl1.1
3

Hi,

I tried this command

sudo apt install python3-pip python3-dev build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev python3-setuptools

and also your recommendation successfully :

Unpacking python3-cryptography (2.8-3ubuntu0.1) over (2.8-3ubuntu0.1) ...
Setting up libssl1.1:amd64 (1.1.1f-1ubuntu2.13) ...
Setting up python3-cffi-backend (1.14.0-1build1) ...
Setting up python3-cryptography (2.8-3ubuntu0.1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.31-0ubuntu9.9) ...

but certbot command still returns the same error.

Thanks,
~Ram

4

Maybe I'm just not very patient today...

But I'd just remove that version and try another ACME client.
OR
Switch to the snap version of certbot.

5

OR
Use pip in a virtual environment.

6

Didn't ubuntu/canonical invent snap? Seems like as good a reason as any to use certbot from the official snap distro instead of messing with dependencies.

Here's the instructions: Certbot Instructions | Certbot

7

Hi,

Once I removed this package like this:

sudo apt-get -y remove python3-cffi-backend

and reinstalled like this:

sudo apt-get -y reinstall python3-cffi-backend libffi7 python3-cryptography libssl1.1

then certbot can be run successfully:

Congratulations! You have successfully enabled HTTPS on

Thank you very much,
~Ram