NBConvert 6.0+: PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/share/jupyter/nbconvert/templates/conf.json'

[Paperone80]

Upgrading to NBconvert 6.0+ crashes my Jupyterhub environment when loading any .ipynb with
500 : Internal Server Error.

I tried every version of NBConvert 6.x.

Error does not happen with:
pip install "nbconvert<=6.0"

Works fine with other up-to-date packages:
NBConvert: 5.6.1
Jupyterhub: 1.4.1
Notebook: 6.4.0
Sudospawner: 0.6.0.dev0

Reproducible by upgrading "nbconvert>=6.0" and start Jupyterhub with

$ jupyterhub --port 8080 --no-db --debug \
--JupyterHub.spawner_class='sudospawner.SudoSpawner' \
--SudoSpawner.sudospawner_path='/opt/jupyterhub_env/bin/sudospawner' \
--pid-file='/opt/jupyterhub_env/bin/jupyterhub.pid_file' \
--JupyterHub.db_url='/opt/jupyterhub_env/bin/jupyterhub.sqlite'  \
--JupyterHub.cleanup_proxy=True \
--Spawner.debug=True \
--Spawner.args=[\'--NotebookApp.iopub_data_rate_limit=1000000000\'] \
--Spawner.default_url='tree/home/{username}' \
--Spawner.notebook_dir='/' \
--ConfigurableHTTPProxy.debug=True \
--JupyterHub.cookie_secret_file='/opt/jupyterhub_env/bin/jupyterhub_cookie_secret' \
--ConfigurableHTTPProxy.auth_token='xxxxxxxxx' \
--Spawner.environment={\
\'LD_LIBRARY_PATH\':\'${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:/usr/local/cuda-10.0/lib:/usr/local/cuda-10.0/extras/CUPTI/lib\'\
\,\'PATH\':\'${PATH}\'\
\,\'CUDA_HOME\':\'/usr/local/cuda-10.0\'\
\,\'CUDA_TOOLKIT_PATH\':\'/usr/local/cuda-10.0\'\
\,\'CUDNN_INSTALL_PATH\':\'/usr/local/cuda-10.0\'\
} \
--Authenticator.admin_users="{'admin'}"

Login with admin and try open any .ipynb. Watch the console for error.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/tornado/web.py", line 1704, in _execute
    result = await result
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/tornado/gen.py", line 775, in run
    yielded = self.gen.send(value)
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/notebook/notebook/handlers.py", line 101, in get
    get_frontend_exporters=get_frontend_exporters
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/notebook/base/handlers.py", line 516, in render_template
    return template.render(**ns)
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/jinja2/environment.py", line 1304, in render
    self.environment.handle_exception()
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/jinja2/environment.py", line 925, in handle_exception
    raise rewrite_traceback_stack(source=source)
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/notebook/templates/notebook.html", line 1, in top-level template code
    {% extends "page.html" %}
  File "<template>", line 2, in top-level template code
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/notebook/templates/page.html", line 154, in top-level template code
    {% block header %}
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/notebook/templates/notebook.html", line 115, in block 'header'
    {% for exporter in get_frontend_exporters() %}
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/notebook/notebook/handlers.py", line 40, in get_frontend_exporters
    for name in get_export_names():
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/nbconvert/exporters/base.py", line 141, in get_export_names
    e = get_exporter(exporter_name)(config=config)
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/nbconvert/exporters/base.py", line 102, in get_exporter
    if getattr(exporter(config=config), 'enabled', True):
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/nbconvert/exporters/templateexporter.py", line 323, in __init__
    super().__init__(config=config, **kw)
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/nbconvert/exporters/exporter.py", line 115, in __init__
    self._init_preprocessors()
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/nbconvert/exporters/templateexporter.py", line 489, in _init_preprocessors
    conf = self._get_conf()
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/site-packages/nbconvert/exporters/templateexporter.py", line 507, in _get_conf
    if conf_path.exists():
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/pathlib.py", line 1336, in exists
    self.stat()
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/pathlib.py", line 1158, in stat
    return self._accessor.stat(self)
  File "/opt/intelpython3/envs/jupyterhub_env/lib/python3.6/pathlib.py", line 387, in wrapped
    return strfunc(str(pathobj), *args)
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/share/jupyter/nbconvert/templates/conf.json'

Btw, /usr/share/jupyter/nbconvert/templates/ is empty. Changing chown and chmod permissions didn't help.

[k-nayak]

facing same issue any solutions?

[k-nayak]

Downgrading nbconvert to 5.6.1, fixed the Permission issue for me.

[sakoarts]

Having the same issue, removing both:
/usr/share/jupyter
and
/usr/local/share/jupyter

Works as well, but it seem like a bug that it tries to use these files from a local conda environment anyway.

[rraadd88]

Giving permissions to all users worked in my case:

chmod -R 777 /usr/share/jupyter/nbconvert/templates/
chmod -R 777 /usr/local/share/jupyter/nbconvert/templates/

[Mithil467]

#1430 has been re-opened to address this issue.

[jasongrout]

Thanks, yes, let's consolidate the conversation over to #1430 since that is the earlier issue.

[meeseeksmachine]

This issue has been mentioned on Jupyter Community Forum. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/500-error-on-loading-notebook/12929/5

[ultraNick]

I have same issue

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/local/share/jupyter/conf.json'

blow works for me. Thanks

Having the same issue, removing both: /usr/share/jupyter and /usr/local/share/jupyter

Works as well, but it seem like a bug that it tries to use these files from a local conda environment anyway.

I think this bug is not fixed in latest version yet

Selected Jupyter core packages...
IPython          : 8.4.0
ipykernel        : 6.9.1
ipywidgets       : 7.6.5
jupyter_client   : 7.2.2
jupyter_core     : 4.10.0
jupyter_server   : 1.18.1
jupyterlab       : 3.4.4
nbclient         : 0.5.13
nbconvert        : 6.4.4
nbformat         : 5.3.0
notebook         : 6.4.12
qtconsole        : 5.3.1
traitlets        : 5.1.1

[orionarcher]

@rraadd88 solution worked for me, thanks!

[Logy777]

@rraadd88 solution is not enough in my case
To solve this issue I had to change rights for this:

chmod -R 755 /usr/share/jupyter/
chmod -R 755 /usr/local/share/jupyter/

[rdewald]

done