image_to_string on CentOS is returning TypeError

So, I have this Python file which uses PyTesseract to get the text from some positions on the image as follows:

import PIL.Image as Image
import os
import pytesseract
from PIL import ImageFile
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from os.path import join, dirname
import traceback

dotenv_path = join(dirname(__file__), '.env')
load_dotenv(dotenv_path)

PYTHONIOENCODING = 'UTF-8'


def read(pic_name, ocr_data):
    read_data = {}

    ImageFile.LOAD_TRUNCATED_IMAGES = True

    # ID's front image
    infile = os.getenv('PICS_FOLDER') + '/' + pic_name + '.jpg'
    # image containing the zone where name is located
    text_area_img = os.getenv('ID_RESULTS_FOLDER') + '/name.jpg'

    img = Image.open(infile)
    # get dimensions to be used while cropping
    width, height = img.size

    # ocr_data contains all the text elements to search for along with their coordinates in the image
    for data in ocr_data:
        coords = data["coordinates"]
        print(coords[0] * width)
        print(coords[1] * height)
        print(coords[2] * width)
        print(coords[3] * height)
        cropping_coords = (coords[0] * width, coords[1] * height, coords[2] * width, coords[3] * height)
        # The readable area contains the text element
        readable_area = img.crop(cropping_coords)
        # The readable area is saved for later reference
        readable_area.save(text_area_img)
        try:
            txt = pytesseract.image_to_string(readable_area, lang='ara', config='--psm 6')
        except Exception as e:
            traceback.print_stack()
            txt = "An exception occurred: " + str(e)
        read_data[data["read_text"]] = txt
        with open(os.getenv('ID_RESULTS_FOLDER') + '/name.txt', 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
            print(txt, file=f)

    return read_data

Now, this code is working just fine on my Windows machine, but when I deployed it on CentOS 7 after having installed all the needed python libraries and installing python itself there, it’s giving

TypeError exception: An exception occurred  expected str  bytes or os.PathLike object  not NoneType

along with this stack trace(The same exception happens twice because there are two text elements I am searching for:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/var/www/digital-identity/front.py", line 39, in read
    txt = pytesseract.image_to_string(readable_area, lang='ara', config='--psm 6')
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pytesseract/pytesseract.py", line 345, in image_to_string
    }[output_type]()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pytesseract/pytesseract.py", line 344, in <lambda>
    Output.STRING: lambda: run_and_get_output(*args),
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pytesseract/pytesseract.py", line 253, in run_and_get_output
    run_tesseract(**kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pytesseract/pytesseract.py", line 223, in run_tesseract
    proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd_args, **subprocess_args())
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.6/subprocess.py", line 729, in __init__
    restore_signals, start_new_session)
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.6/subprocess.py", line 1278, in _execute_child
    executable = os.fsencode(executable)
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.6/os.py", line 800, in fsencode
    filename = fspath(filename)  # Does type-checking of `filename`.
TypeError: expected str, bytes or os.PathLike object, not NoneType
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/var/www/digital-identity/front.py", line 39, in read
    txt = pytesseract.image_to_string(readable_area, lang='ara', config='--psm 6')
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pytesseract/pytesseract.py", line 345, in image_to_string
    }[output_type]()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pytesseract/pytesseract.py", line 344, in <lambda>
    Output.STRING: lambda: run_and_get_output(*args),
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pytesseract/pytesseract.py", line 253, in run_and_get_output
    run_tesseract(**kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pytesseract/pytesseract.py", line 223, in run_tesseract
    proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd_args, **subprocess_args())
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.6/subprocess.py", line 729, in __init__
    restore_signals, start_new_session)
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.6/subprocess.py", line 1278, in _execute_child
    executable = os.fsencode(executable)
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.6/os.py", line 800, in fsencode
    filename = fspath(filename)  # Does type-checking of `filename`.
TypeError: expected str, bytes or os.PathLike object, not NoneType

Now I have checked that the files are being created, but I don’t know what’s causing the problem nor how am I supposed to solve it seeing as it’s probably an issue with the library.

[int3l]

‘pytesseract.pytesseract.tesseract_cmd’ is just a module variable. Thank you for sharing the workaround. I don’t know why this variable changed for your pytesseract installation - it should be set to ‘tesseract’ by default. Closing this issue as fixed.

[hke14]

Alright, I checked something, pytesseract.pytesseract.tesseract_cmd was returning none, so I explicitly declared it to be tesseract as such: pytesseract.pytesseract.tesseract_cmd = 'tesseract' And it worked, so I guess this function just returned None for some reason but now it’s fixed