CFD Online Discussion Forums - [OpenFOAM] Python and paraview.simple libprotobuf error

I want to automate my use of paraview using python. I'm using Python 2.7, Paraview 3.14.1 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. However, I am having problems loading the required modules to write the python script. I was initially able to load paraview.simple a few times, then I received the errors described below. I tried restarting Ubuntu. A shot in the dark, I know, but I don't know what else to do. I just tried to load some of the other modules: paraview.pvfilters, paraview.vtk, and paraview.util loaded; while paraview.servermanager gave the same error as paraview.simple.

When I run

Code:

import paraview.simple

I get

Code:

libprotobuf ERROR /build/buildd/paraview3.14.1/Utilities/protobuf/src/google/protobuf/descriptor_database.cc:57]

File already exists in database: vtkPVMessage.proto

libprotobuf FATAL /build/buildd/paraview3.14.1/Utilities/protobuf/src/google/protobuf/descriptor.cc:860]

CHECK failed: generated_database_>Add(encoded_file_descriptor, size):

Aborted (core dumped)

If I run

Code:

import paraview

help(paraview)

I get

Code:

NAME

    paraview



FILE

    /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/paraview/__init__.py



MODULE DOCS

    http://docs.python.org/library/paraview



DESCRIPTION

    This module is not meant to be used directly. Please look at one of the modules

    it provides:

        servermanager

        pvfilters

        vtk

        numeric

        util

        simple

    :

And then

Code:

    help(paraview.simple)

    AttributeError: 'module' has no attribute 'simple'

The file "simple.py" and "simple.pyc" are in the paraview folder indicated by help(paraview).
I should probably note the recommended way to load the module

Code:

    try: paraview.simple

    except: from paraview.simple import *

returns the same libprotobuf error as described above. Since I can access the paraview module, it seems as though there is an issue with a library that simple is calling? Maybe? I have no idea what any of this means. Thanks for any help.

Edit
I'm going to try to see if following the rabbit hole from this https://github.com/BVLC/caffe/issues/1917 will fix the issue.