The conf.d file for twistd shows that you can specify a PYTHONPATH, but it's never exported to twistd in the init script. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Place a module outside your standard sys.path 2. Change PYTHONPATH in /etc/conf.d/twistd to include the directory holding that module 3. Import from the module in a .tac file 4. Try to start your app via the twistd init script
Fixed.