title: Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding in OpenSuse 12.3
body: <p>I have downloaded Python3.3 and after unzipping it I issued <code>./configure</code>, <code>make</code> and <code>make altinstall</code>. When I issued <code>python3.3</code>, the following message was shown:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding</p>
  <p>ImportError: No module named 'encodings'</p>
  <p>Aborted</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>I checked the Python environment variables and they seem to be okay.</p>
  <p>In my <code>.profile</code> I inserted the following lines:</p>
  <pre><code>export PYTHONHOME=/usr/local/lib/python3.3/:/usr/local/lib/python3.3/lib/:/usr/local/lib/python3.3/lib/site-packages/
  export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/bin/
  export PATH=$PYTHONPATH:$PATH
  </code></pre>
  <p>I then did <code>source .profile</code>, but Python won't start.</p>
  <p>In Eclipse, after installing <code>pydev</code>, when I attempted to add the Python interpreter from /usr/local/bin, I got the following message:</p>
  <pre><code>No output was in the standard output when trying to create the interpreter info.
  The error output contains:&gt;&gt;Could not find platform dependent libraries &lt;exec_prefix&gt;
  Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to &lt;prefix&gt;[:&lt;exec_prefix&gt;]
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File &quot;/home/sabya/eclipse/plugins/org.python.pydev_2.7.3.2013031601/pysrc/interpreterInfo.py&quot;, line 52, in &lt;module&gt;
      import time
  ImportError: No module named 'time'
  </code></pre>
  <p>I am at loss to understand what else I have to set in order for Python to work. I am running OpenSuSE 12.3.</p>