Issue installing cx_Oracle on Linux - Import only works from Site-Packages Directory
Question: I have installed cx_Oracle to connect Python and Oracle for programming;
however, I can only import cx_Oracle into python if I am in the directory
where cx_Oracle lives. How can I import cx_Oracle globally? Below is code
demonstrating the problem.

Thanks for your help.

**Python Can't Import cx_Oracle**

    
    
    user@T420 ~ $ python
    Python 2.7.3 (default, Sep 26 2012, 21:51:14) 
    [GCC 4.7.2] on linux2
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> import cx_Oracle
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
    ImportError: No module named cx_Oracle
    

**Python Can Import cx_Oracle from the Directory Where it is Located**

    
    
    user@T420 /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages $ ls
    cx_Oracle-5.1.2-py2.7.egg-info  cx_Oracle.so
    
    user@T420 /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages $ python
    Python 2.7.3 (default, Sep 26 2012, 21:51:14) 
    [GCC 4.7.2] on linux2
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> import cx_Oracle
    >>> 
    


Answer: Python on Debian does not use the site-packages folder. You can simply move
the files into the dist-packages folder and everything should work. The other
solution as Aaron mentioned would be to add the path to site-packages into the
sys.path folder. However, the python site.py folder says the following:

**Quote from site.py file:**

> For Debian and derivatives, this sys.path is augmented with directories for
> packages distributed within the distribution. Local addons go into
> /usr/local/lib/python/dist-packages, Debian addons install into
> /usr/{lib,share}/python/dist-packages. /usr/lib/python/site-packages is not
> used.

