"Cannot import 'libtorrent' due to 'invalid or missing encoding declaration" false positive

[matkoniecz]

Bug description

I get

E0001: Cannot import 'libtorrent' due to 'invalid or missing encoding declaration for '/home/mateusz/python_import_location/lib/python3.12/site-packages/libtorrent/init.cpython-312-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'' (syntax-error)

despite import working perfectly fine

Command used

pylint 1_obtain_osm_data.py on file with

import libtorrent

content

Real project is at https://codeberg.org/matkoniecz/list_how_openstreetmap_can_be_improved_with_alltheplaces_data/src/branch/master/1_obtain_osm_data.py

Real pylint command was pylint *.py --include-naming-hint=y --variable-rgx="^[a-z][a-z0-9]*((_[a-z0-9]+)*)?$" --argument-rgx="^[a-z][a-z0-9]*((_[a-z0-9]+)*)?$" --disable=R0917,E0401,W0201,R0902,C0103,C0301,C0114,C0115,C0116,C0121,W0613,R0911,R0912,R0913,R0915,C0302,C1803,R1710,W0719,R1713,R1705,C0411,W1514,E1136,W0101,W0611,R0904,E1124,R0801,W0706,C0413,R0903,R0402,C0325,C0206,R1724,R1737,R1714,R1702,W0621,C0209,R0914,R1730,W0105,W0603,W0108,W0511,C0201 --check-str-concat-over-line-jumps=y

and now is

pylint *.py --include-naming-hint=y --variable-rgx="^[a-z][a-z0-9]*((_[a-z0-9]+)*)?$" --argument-rgx="^[a-z][a-z0-9]*((_[a-z0-9]+)*)?$" --disable=R0917,E0401,W0201,R0902,C0103,C0301,C0114,C0115,C0116,C0121,W0613,R0911,R0912,R0913,R0915,C0302,C1803,R1710,W0719,R1713,R1705,C0411,W1514,E1136,W0101,W0611,R0904,E1124,R0801,W0706,C0413,R0903,R0402,C0325,C0206,R1724,R1737,R1714,R1702,W0621,C0209,R0914,R1730,W0105,W0603,W0108,W0511,C0201 --check-str-concat-over-line-jumps=y | grep -v libtorrent | grep -v 1_obtain_osm_data as a workaround

Pylint output

************* Module 1_obtain_osm_data
1_obtain_osm_data.py:1:0: C0114: Missing module docstring (missing-module-docstring)
1_obtain_osm_data.py:1:0: C0103: Module name "1_obtain_osm_data" doesn't conform to snake_case naming style (invalid-name)
1_obtain_osm_data.py:1:0: E0001: Cannot import 'libtorrent' due to 'invalid or missing encoding declaration for '/home/mateusz/Documents/install_moje/shared_python_virtual_environment/lib/python3.12/site-packages/libtorrent/__init__.cpython-312-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'' (syntax-error)
1_obtain_osm_data.py:1:0: W0611: Unused import libtorrent (unused-import)

------------------------------------------------------------------
Your code has been rated at 0.00/10 (previous run: 0.00/10, +0.00)

Expected behavior

it does not complain, like it does not complain about my other imports

Pylint version

pylint 4.0.4
astroid 4.0.2
Python 3.12.3 (main, Jan 22 2026, 20:57:42) [GCC 13.3.0]

OS / Environment

QTerminal 1.4.0

lsb_release -a shows

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS
Release:        24.04
Codename:       noble

Additional dependencies

`libtorrent==2.0.11`

[Pierre-Sassoulas]

Syntax error are coming directly from the python interpreter, are you sure you're using python 3 and not python 2 in the failing command ?

[matkoniecz]

As far as I see pylint command is not failing, as far as I see command is successfully (and wrongly) claiming that I have syntax errors

I am pretty sure that I have no Python2 being involved, how can I recheck it?

Note that for other imports it has no such complaints

[Pierre-Sassoulas]

Use python3 -m pylint instead of pylint in the command you've shown in the issue description.

[matkoniecz]

also gives E0001: Cannot import 'libtorrent' due to 'invalid or missing encoding declaration for '/home/mateusz/Documents/install_moje/shared_python_virtual_environment/lib/python3.12/site-packages/libtorrent/__init__.cpython-312-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'' (syntax-error) complaint

[ngie-eign]

I'm running into the same problem with a project that doesn't distribute .py files when invoking pylint with --unsafe-load-any-extension and a custom pylintrc. I can provide this detail if needed.
FWIW, it looks like it may be due to some AST parsing/integration issues with asteroid:

pylint/pylint/checkers/imports.py

Lines 1061 to 1071 in d796007

	try:
	return importnode.do_import_module(modname)
	except astroid.TooManyLevelsError:
	if _ignore_import_failure(importnode, modname, self._ignored_modules):
	return None
	self.add_message("relative-beyond-top-level", node=importnode)
	except astroid.AstroidSyntaxError as exc:
	message = f"Cannot import {modname!r} due to '{exc.error}'"
	self.add_message(
	"syntax-error", line=importnode.lineno, args=message, confidence=HIGH
	)

[ngie-eign]

pylint-dev/astroid#2733 looks very familiar.