SSL certificates on Google App Engine - google-app-engine

Question

I'm having issues getting started using GAE (1.7.6 on OS X 10.6.8 with Python 2.7) and compared to amazon services it is abysmal. However, I would like to at least get the sample app deployed. After working through the other issues I now have a small sample application ready to deploy. When I try to deploy it, I receive an SSL error as follows:
*** Running appcfg.py with the following flags:
--no_cookies --email=mathsboy#gmail.com --passin update
02:15 PM Host: appengine.google.com
02:15 PM Application: tew-helloworld; version: 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "google_appengine/appcfg.py", line 171, in <module>
run_file(__file__, globals())
File "google_appengine/appcfg.py", line 167, in run_file
execfile(script_path, globals_)
File "/Applications/GoogleAppEngineLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/GoogleAppEngine-default.bundle/Contents/Resources/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/appcfg.py", line 4155, in <module>
main(sys.argv)
File "/Applications/GoogleAppEngineLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/GoogleAppEngine-default.bundle/Contents/Resources/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/appcfg.py", line 4146, in main
result = AppCfgApp(argv).Run()
File "/Applications/GoogleAppEngineLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/GoogleAppEngine-default.bundle/Contents/Resources/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/appcfg.py", line 2334, in Run
self.action(self)
File "/Applications/GoogleAppEngineLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/GoogleAppEngine-default.bundle/Contents/Resources/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/appcfg.py", line 3881, in __call__
return method()
File "/Applications/GoogleAppEngineLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/GoogleAppEngine-default.bundle/Contents/Resources/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/appcfg.py", line 2892, in Update
updatecheck.CheckForUpdates()
File "/Applications/GoogleAppEngineLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/GoogleAppEngine-default.bundle/Contents/Resources/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/sdk_update_checker.py", line 258, in CheckForUpdates
runtime=runtime))
File "/Applications/GoogleAppEngineLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/GoogleAppEngine-default.bundle/Contents/Resources/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/appengine_rpc.py", line 393, in Send
f = self.opener.open(req)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 394, in open
response = self._open(req, data)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 412, in _open
'_open', req)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 372, in _call_chain
result = func(*args)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 1207, in https_open
return self.do_open(httplib.HTTPSConnection, req)
File "/Applications/GoogleAppEngineLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/GoogleAppEngine-default.bundle/Contents/Resources/google_appengine/lib/fancy_urllib/fancy_urllib/__init__.py", line 383, in do_open
url_error.reason.args[1])
fancy_urllib.InvalidCertificateException: Host appengine.google.com returned an invalid certificate (_ssl.c:503: error:14090086:SSL routines:SSL3_GET_SERVER_CERTIFICATE:certificate verify failed):
To learn more, see http://code.google.com/appengine/kb/general.html#rpcssl
If deploy fails you might need to 'rollback' manually.
The "Make Symlinks..." menu option can help with command-line work.
*** appcfg.py has finished with exit code 1 ***
There was some advice on this in another thread stating that you would need to remove cacerts.txt, though I am unable to locate this file on OS X. Also, it seems retarded that in order to have the code upload I'd have to delete a cacert text file. But maybe I'm an idiot.
Another problem I'm facing here, is that OS X doesn't work well with GAE due to the difficulty in managing python versions. I've got a total mess on my hands now after installing multiple versions of python, EPD, ActiveState, MacPorts. None of these worked in solving me earlier problems despite assurances they would. It's really pretty appalling that this is the state of google's application management. It just seems like GAE was built by a bunch of guys from mid-90s microsoft....anyone advice on the above issue would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

Answer 1

Fourth line from end in your error. Relevant instructions under the link.
http://code.google.com/appengine/kb/general.html#rpcssl
Make sure (from documentation):
To do this you must have the ssl Python module installed on your system.

Answer 2

Workaround: Use the command line argument --skip_sdk_update_check=yes when you run dev_appserver.py.
I had the same problem and noticed the GUI tool (GoogleAppEngineLauncher) uses --skip_sdk_update_check=yes every time you start an app. This is as of SDK 1.8.7.
The root cause seems to be a known bug in the GAE development server's module whiltelisting system. Even if you have the ssl module installed (as the documentation says is required), ssl relies on _ssl, which is not whitelisted. This is why you can execute import ssl in a regular python shell session with no problem, but get an error when you execute the same line in a GAE app.