Python doesn't recognize cv2 when running under sudo

Question

I've installed opencv with python 2.7 using this tutorial. I've created a test python file and everything works fine. But when I try to run it as sudo, it throws an error:

ImportError: No module named cv2

I'm guessing this has to do with permissions.. I need to run it as sudo because I'm using pigpiod in another function.

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

If you see here, this is not a raspberry related issue, but more a standard virtualenv issue. Seems that not all aliases, packets and libraries of virtualenv are correctly loaded when using sudo.

The link recommends to run directly the virtual environment's Python executable with sudo. Something like:

sudo ./<virtualenv name>/bin/python <script>

Answer 2

For me I don't like the Virtual Environment Wrapper. So I install OpenCV without it. If you would like to install OpenCV again from Scratch. Here is my cheat sheet. It works fine for me and for my colleagues. I recommend you to stick to the cheat sheet, especially in step 12. Hope it works well for you.