GCP Python3 Startup Script Issue

Question

I've used startup scripts on Google Cloud Compute Instances:

setsid python home/junaid_athar/pull.py

And I can run the following script on the VM without issue when logged in at the root directory:

setsid python3 home/junaid_athar/btfx.py

however, when I add setsid python3 home/junaid_athar/btfx.py to the startup-script it throws an error saying:

ImportError: cannot import name 'opentype'

The same script runs fine when I'm logged in, but not when I run it as a startup-script, why and how do I resolve it?

Update: I'm pretty new to programming, and hack away. Here's the script:

import logging
import time
import sys
import json
from btfxwss import BtfxWss
from google.cloud import bigquery

log = logging.getLogger(__name__)

fh = logging.FileHandler('/home/junaid_athar/test.log')
fh.setLevel(logging.CRITICAL)
sh = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout)
sh.setLevel(logging.CRITICAL)

log.addHandler(sh)
log.addHandler(fh)
    logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG, handlers=[fh, sh])

def stream_data(dataset_id, table_id, json_data):
    bigquery_client = bigquery.Client()
    dataset_ref = bigquery_client.dataset(dataset_id)
    table_ref = dataset_ref.table(table_id)
    data = json.loads(json_data)

# Get the table from the API so that the schema is available.
table = bigquery_client.get_table(table_ref)

rows = [data]
errors = bigquery_client.create_rows(table, rows)

wss=BtfxWss()
wss.start()

while not wss.conn.connected.is_set():
    time.sleep(2)

# Subscribe to some channels
wss.subscribe_to_trades('BTCUSD')

# Do something else
t = time.time()
while time.time() - t < 5:
    pass

# Accessing data stored in BtfxWss:
trades_q = wss.trades('BTCUSD')  # returns a Queue object for the pair.
while True:
    while not trades_q.empty():
        item=trades_q.get()
        if item[0][0]=='te':
            json_data={'SEQ':item[0][0], 'ID':item[0][1][0], 'TIMESTAMP':int(str(item[0][1][1])[:10]) , 'PRICE':item[0][1][3], 'AMOUNT':item[0][1][2], 'UNIQUE_TS':item[0][1][1], 'SOURCE':'bitfinex'}
            stream_data('gdax','btfxwss', json.dumps(json_data))
# Unsubscribing from channels:
wss.unsubscribe_from_trades('BTCUSD')

# Shutting down the client:
wss.stop()

I'm running it on a Standard 1-CPU 3.75mem machine. (Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)).

I THINK the problem is with the install directory of python3 & modules and the difference between how start-up scripts are ran vs being logged into the machine-- how do I troubleshoot that?

Answer 1

Figured out what was going on. Startup scripts are run as the (on the?) root. I added -u username to the start of the startup script, and it ran as though I were SSH'ed into the server. All is good, thanks all for your help!