{"record":{"id":"f1a9f6ee2cb0e362","repo":"google/python-fire","slug":"unable-to-load-module-from-specified-path","errorCode":null,"errorMessage":"Unable to load module from specified path.","messagePattern":"Unable to load module from specified path\\.","errorType":"exception","errorClass":"OSError","httpStatus":null,"severity":"error","filePath":"fire/__main__.py","lineNumber":64,"sourceCode":"    path (str): the path to the file to be imported.\n\n  Raises:\n    IOError: if the given file does not exist or importlib fails to load it.\n\n  Returns:\n    Tuple[ModuleType, str]: returns the imported module and the module name,\n      usually extracted from the path itself.\n  \"\"\"\n\n  if not os.path.exists(path):\n    raise OSError('Given file path does not exist.')\n\n  module_name = os.path.basename(path)\n\n  spec = util.spec_from_file_location(module_name, path)\n\n  if spec is None or spec.loader is None:\n    raise OSError('Unable to load module from specified path.')\n\n  module = util.module_from_spec(spec)  # pylint: disable=no-member\n  spec.loader.exec_module(module)\n\n  return module, module_name\n\n\ndef import_from_module_name(module_name):\n  \"\"\"Imports a module and returns it and its name.\"\"\"\n  module = importlib.import_module(module_name)\n  return module, module_name\n\n\ndef import_module(module_or_filename):\n  \"\"\"Imports a given module or filename.\n\n  If the module_or_filename exists in the file system and ends with .py, we\n  attempt to import it. If that import fails, try to import it as a module.","sourceCodeStart":46,"sourceCodeEnd":82,"githubUrl":"https://github.com/google/python-fire/blob/716bbc23d7eca949fdb682172283c8d18f742cb6/fire/__main__.py#L46-L82","documentation":"After the path exists, fire builds a module spec with importlib.util.spec_from_file_location. If Python cannot produce a spec or loader for that file, fire raises OSError('Unable to load module from specified path.'). This means the file is on disk but is not importable as a Python module (wrong type, unreadable, or an unrecognized extension/format for the loader).","triggerScenarios":"import_from_file_path is given an existing file whose extension/content importlib cannot map to a loader — e.g. a .pyc-less stub, an empty or unreadable file, or a non-.py file that still exists and passes the existence check.","commonSituations":"Pointing python -m fire at a config file, data file, or compiled artifact instead of a .py source file; file permission problems; files with odd extensions like .py.bak or .txt.","solutions":["Confirm the target is a plain .py source file, not a data/config or compiled file.","Check read permissions on the file (`ls -l`, `chmod`).","Rename the file to end in .py if it is Python source with the wrong extension.","Import the module by dotted name instead of by file path."],"exampleFix":"// before\npython -m fire ./script.txt serve\n// after\nmv script.txt script.py && python -m fire ./script.py serve","handlingStrategy":"validation","validationCode":"import os\npath = './script.py'\nif os.path.exists(path) and (not os.path.isfile(path) or not os.access(path, os.R_OK)):\n    raise SystemExit(f'{path} exists but is not a readable file')","typeGuard":"def is_importable_source(p: str) -> bool:\n    return os.path.isfile(p) and p.endswith('.py') and os.access(p, os.R_OK)","tryCatchPattern":"try:\n    module, name = fire_import.import_from_file_path(path)\nexcept OSError as e:\n    print(f'Cannot load module from {path}: {e}'); sys.exit(2)","preventionTips":["Only pass .py source files, never data/config/compiled files.","Check file read permissions before invoking.","Prefer dotted module names over file paths."],"tags":["python","import","module-loading","cli"],"backgroundTag":"module-import-failed","analyzedSha":"716bbc23d7eca949fdb682172283c8d18f742cb6","analyzedAt":"2026-08-28T21:57:47.200Z","schemaVersion":2},"datasetVersion":"2026-08-29T02:17:18.158Z"}