[Fix] ImportError No module named helper.encoding – SickRage

Out of the blue SickRage did not start on my server and displayed "ImportError No module named helper.encoding". Upon investigation I found that a bad update may have broken SickRage. How did I know it was broken in the first place? My recently setup Monit system monitoring software notified me that SickRage was not running. If you have setup your SickRage to automatically update then don't be surprised if one day SickRage shutdowns with "ImportError No module named helper.encoding" python error (shown below).

Note that ragestart is my bash aliase for sudo /etc/init.d/sickrage start. Read about setting up bash aliases for common commands.

ImportError No module named helper.encoding Fix

Fixing this error is as simple as checking for updates and updating SickRage. Since SickRage does not start after the Python import error, it is impossible to open the UI and update it. On Ubuntu systems, especially if you installed SickRage using our AtoMiC ToolKit, manual update is simple.

Navigate to your SickRage folder. If you used our SickRage install guide or AtoMiC ToolKit, then use the following command:

cd ~/.sickrage

Then check and update from git repository using the following command:

git pull

If there are updates found, SickRage will be manually updated. Then try starting SickRage using the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/sickrage start

SickRage should now start without the "ImportError No module named helper.encoding" error. The whole process is shown in the screenshot below.

Again, ragestart is my bash alias for starting SickRage. If you encountered the Python Import Error SickRage then hopefully this guide helps you.