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Cannot Run Apache Airflow Unit Tests: sqlalchemy.exc.OperationalError: unable to open database file

I am attempting to run a single unit test within the Apache Airflow repository (airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py) for development purposes.

I have followed the recommended setup steps, but the test consistently fails with 2 different errors (Windows/linux).

  • Windows (long but trimmed):
(.venv) PS C:\Users\Mido Hany\VS code Projects\Habitat\airflow> pytest .\airflow-core\tests\unit\models\test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py -q
Refreshed 97 providers with 1937 Python files.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\VS code Projects\Habitat\airflow\scripts\ci\pre_commit\update_providers_dependencies.py", line 188, in <module>
    check_if_different_provider_used(file)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\VS code Projects\Habitat\airflow\scripts\ci\pre_commit\update_providers_dependencies.py", line 157, in check_if_different_provider_used
    imports = get_imports_from_file(file_path, only_top_level=False)
  File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\VS code Projects\Habitat\airflow\scripts\ci\pre_commit\common_precommit_utils.py", line 379, in get_imports_from_file
    root = ast.parse(file_path.read_text(), file_path.name)
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Lib\pathlib\_local.py", line 546, in read_text
    return PathBase.read_text(self, encoding, errors, newline)
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Lib\pathlib\_abc.py", line 633, in read_text
    return f.read()
           ~~~~~~^^
  File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Lib\encodings\cp1252.py", line 23, in decode
    return codecs.charmap_decode(input,self.errors,decoding_table)[0]
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
UnicodeDecodeError: 'charmap' codec can't decode byte 0x81 in position 2148: character maps to <undefined>
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 88, in _run_code
  File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\VS code Projects\Habitat\airflow\.venv\Scripts\pytest.exe\__main__.py", line 6, in <module>
    sys.exit(console_main())
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
...
 File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\VS code Projects\Habitat\airflow\.venv\Lib\site-packages\_pytest\config\__init__.py", line 876, in import_plugin
    __import__(importspec)
    ~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1360, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1331, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 935, in _load_unlocked
  File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\VS code Projects\Habitat\airflow\.venv\Lib\site-packages\_pytest\assertion\rewrite.py", line 197, in exec_module
    exec(co, module.__dict__)
    ~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\VS code Projects\Habitat\airflow\devel-common\src\tests_common\pytest_plugin.py", line 200, in <module>
    subprocess.check_call(["uv", "run", UPDATE_PROVIDER_DEPENDENCIES_SCRIPT.as_posix()])
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\Mido Hany\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Lib\subprocess.py", line 419, in check_call
    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['uv', 'run', 'C:/Users/Mido Hany/VS code Projects/Habitat/airflow/scripts/ci/pre_commit/update_providers_dependencies.py']' returned non-zero exit status 1.
  • I tried on a clean Ubuntu VM on Google Cloud, and had another error (very long but trimmed):
pytest airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py  -q
============================================= test session starts ==============================================
platform linux -- Python 3.11.2, pytest-9.0.1, pluggy-1.6.0 -- /home/midohany910/habitat/airflow/.venv/bin/python3
cachedir: .pytest_cache
rootdir: /home/midohany910/habitat/airflow
configfile: pyproject.toml
plugins: asyncio-1.3.0, anyio-4.12.0, time-machine-3.1.0
asyncio: mode=Mode.STRICT, debug=False, asyncio_default_fixture_loop_scope=function, asyncio_default_test_loop_scope=function
collected 4 items                                                                                              

airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py::test_overflow_caps_to_configured_max__HABITAT ERROR [ 25%]
airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py::test_overflow_caps_to_internal_max__HABITAT ERROR [ 50%]
airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py::test_non_exponential_policy_unchanged__HABITAT ERROR [ 75%]
airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py::test_small_interval_large_attempts_overflow__HABITAT ERROR [100%]

==================================================== ERRORS ====================================================
_______________________ ERROR at setup of test_overflow_caps_to_configured_max__HABITAT ________________________
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py:143: in __init__
    self._dbapi_connection = engine.raw_connection()
                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py:3301: in raw_connection
    return self.pool.connect()
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/pool/base.py:447: in connect
    return _ConnectionFairy._checkout(self)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
...
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/default.py:629: in connect
    return self.loaded_dbapi.connect(*cargs, **cparams)  # type: ignore[no-any-return]  # NOQA: E501
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
E   sqlalchemy.exc.OperationalError: (sqlite3.OperationalError) unable to open database file
E   (Background on this error at: https://sqlalche.me/e/20/e3q8)
-------------------------------------------- Captured stdout setup ---------------------------------------------

========================= AIRFLOW ==========================
Home of the user: /home/midohany910
Airflow home /home/midohany910/airflow
Initializing the DB - first time after entering the container.
Initialization can be also forced by adding --with-db-init flag when running tests.
[2025-11-30T20:05:55.919+0000] {db.py:1146} INFO - Dropping Airflow tables that exist
---------------------------------------------- Captured log setup ----------------------------------------------
INFO     airflow.utils.db:db.py:1146 Dropping Airflow tables that exist
________________________ ERROR at setup of test_overflow_caps_to_internal_max__HABITAT _________________________
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py:143: in __init__
    self._dbapi_connection = engine.raw_connection()
                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py:3301: in raw_connection
    return self.pool.connect()
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/pool/base.py:447: in connect
    return _ConnectionFairy._checkout(self)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
...
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/create.py:661: in connect
    return dialect.connect(*cargs, **cparams)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/default.py:629: in connect
    return self.loaded_dbapi.connect(*cargs, **cparams)  # type: ignore[no-any-return]  # NOQA: E501
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
E   sqlalchemy.exc.OperationalError: (sqlite3.OperationalError) unable to open database file
E   (Background on this error at: https://sqlalche.me/e/20/e3q8)
_______________________ ERROR at setup of test_non_exponential_policy_unchanged__HABITAT _______________________
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py:143: in __init__
    self._dbapi_connection = engine.raw_connection()
                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
...
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/create.py:661: in connect
    return dialect.connect(*cargs, **cparams)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/default.py:629: in connect
    return self.loaded_dbapi.connect(*cargs, **cparams)  # type: ignore[no-any-return]  # NOQA: E501
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
E   sqlalchemy.exc.OperationalError: (sqlite3.OperationalError) unable to open database file
E   (Background on this error at: https://sqlalche.me/e/20/e3q8)
____________________ ERROR at setup of test_small_interval_large_attempts_overflow__HABITAT ____________________
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py:143: in __init__
    self._dbapi_connection = engine.raw_connection()
                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py:3301: in raw_connection
    return self.pool.connect()
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
...
.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/default.py:629: in connect
    return self.loaded_dbapi.connect(*cargs, **cparams)  # type: ignore[no-any-return]  # NOQA: E501
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
E   sqlalchemy.exc.OperationalError: (sqlite3.OperationalError) unable to open database file
E   (Background on this error at: https://sqlalche.me/e/20/e3q8)
===================================== Warning summary. Total: 1, Unique: 1 =====================================
other: total 1, unique 1
  runtest: total 1, unique 1
Warnings saved into /home/midohany910/habitat/airflow/devel-common/warnings.txt file.
=========================================== short test summary info ============================================
ERROR airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py::test_overflow_caps_to_configured_max__HABITAT - sqlalchemy.exc.OperationalError: (sqlite3.OperationalError) unable to open database file
ERROR airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py::test_overflow_caps_to_internal_max__HABITAT - sqlalchemy.exc.OperationalError: (sqlite3.OperationalError) unable to open database file
ERROR airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py::test_non_exponential_policy_unchanged__HABITAT - sqlalchemy.exc.OperationalError: (sqlite3.OperationalError) unable to open database file
ERROR airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py::test_small_interval_large_attempts_overflow__HABITAT - sqlalchemy.exc.OperationalError: (sqlite3.OperationalError) unable to open database file
========================================= 1 warning, 4 errors in 6.01s =========================================

⚙️ Setup Steps

I am running these steps from the root of the cloned Apache Airflow repository:

  1. Clone the Repository & Navigate

    git clone https://github.com/apache/airflow.git
cd airflow

  2. Create & Activate Venv (using uv)

    uv venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
# Win: .venv/Scripts/activate

  3. Install Dependencies

    uv pip install -e ./airflow-core[devel]

# Explicitly install testing tools that were missing
uv pip install pytest pytest-asyncio pyyaml

  4. Set Environment Variables (Tried various versions to fix import errors)

    # Final working PYTHONPATH export
export PYTHONPATH="./airflow-core/src:./airflow-core/tests:.:$PYTHONPATH"
# Win: $env:PYTHONPATH = "$(Get-Location)\airflow-core\src;$(Get-Location)\airflow-core\tests;$(Get-Location)\devel-common\src"

# Added the test mode flag (often required for Airflow tests)
export AIRFLOWCOREUNIT_TEST_MODE="true"

  5. Run the Test

    pytest -q airflow-core/tests/unit/models/test_safe_exponential_backoff__HABITAT.py

❌ The Error

The test session fails on windows, but starts on linux & attempts to load the test module, and then fails with the above error.

What am I doing wrong??

I trimmed the errors for the post length linmit - if you need the full error I can provide.

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