sqlite3 error on AWS lambda with Python 3

Question

I am building a python 3.6 AWS Lambda deploy package and was facing an issue with SQLite.

In my code I am using nltk which has a import sqlite3 in one of the files.

Steps taken till now:

1. Deployment package has only python modules that I am using in the root. I get the error: Unable to import module 'my_program': No module named '_sqlite3'

2. Added the _sqlite3.so from /home/my_username/anaconda2/envs/py3k/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/_sqlite3.so into package root. Then my error changed to:

   Unable to import module 'my_program': dynamic module does not define module export function (PyInit__sqlite3)

3. Added the SQLite precompiled binaries from sqlite.org to the root of my package but I still get the error as point #2.

My setup: Ubuntu 16.04, python3 virtual env

AWS lambda env: python3

How can I fix this problem?

Answer 1

As apathyman describes, there isn't a direct solution to this until Amazon bundle the C libraries required for sqlite3 into the AMI's used to run Python on lambda.

One workaround though, is using a pure Python implementation of SQLite, such as PyDbLite. This side-steps the problem, as a library like this doesn't require any particular C libraries to be installed, just Python.

Unfortunately, this doesn't help you if you are using a library which in turn uses the sqlite3 module.