Google App Engine has suddenly stopped working, with error 'you are likely missing the Python "PIL" module'
Question: I've been developing apps on GAE (with Windows/Python) for over a year and
although I'm no expert, I've always been able to get the apps to run!

The app I'm currently working on was working fine on the localhost at
lunchtime today. Without making any changes, I've come to it this evening and
the app won't run in the App Engine launcher, comes up with a warning triangle
when I try and gives the following in the log:

    
    
    INFO     2013-12-03 23:46:06,766 devappserver2.py:557] Skipping SDK update check.
    WARNING  2013-12-03 23:46:06,776 api_server.py:317] Could not initialize images API; you are likely missing the Python "PIL" module.
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\dev_appserver.py", line 184, in <module>
    _run_file(__file__, globals())
      File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\dev_appserver.py", line 180, in _run_file
    execfile(script_path, globals_)
      File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\tools\devappserver2\devappserver2.py", line 727, in <module>
    main()
      File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\tools\devappserver2\devappserver2.py", line 720, in main
    dev_server.start(options)
      File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\tools\devappserver2\devappserver2.py", line 685, in start
    default_gcs_bucket_name=options.default_gcs_bucket_name)
      File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\tools\devappserver2\api_server.py", line 349, in setup_stubs
    simple_search_stub.SearchServiceStub(index_file=search_index_path))
      File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\api\search\simple_search_stub.py", line 607, in __init__
    self.Read()
      File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\api\search\simple_search_stub.py", line 1020, in Read
    read_indexes = self._ReadFromFile()
      File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\api\search\simple_search_stub.py", line 994, in _ReadFromFile
    version, indexes = pickle.load(open(self.__index_file, 'rb'))
    EOFError
    2013-12-03 23:46:06 (Process exited with code 1)
    

I have tried running the Hello, World app as I know it was working fine
before, as well as several other apps that I have developed which were all
previously working fine, and all throw the same error.

I just don't really understand what could have changed in the meantime. Any
light that anyone can shed would be gratefully received!


Answer: Forget about the PIL bit it's just a warning

You need to read the stacktrace and the last line is the most important

`File "C:\Program Files
(x86)\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\api\search\simple_search_stub.py",
line 994, in _ReadFromFile version, indexes =
pickle.load(open(self.__index_file, 'rb')) EOFError`

From this is it tells me the search service can not open an index file and
can't be started. Have you upgraded the SDK, moved something.

I suggest you set the search indexes path explicitly and or clear the indexes.
See command line

    
    
    --search_indexes_path SEARCH_INDEXES_PATH
                        path to a file used to store search indexes (defaults
                        to a file in --storage_path if not set) (default:
                        None)
    --clear_search_indexes [CLEAR_SEARCH_INDEXES] 
                        clear the search indexes (default: False)` 
    

