Why Am I Getting \"unable to get local issuer certificate\" Error While Using urllib.request?

Unable to Get Local Issuer Certificate While Fetching Data via urllib

When attempting to retrieve data using Python's urllib.request package, you may encounter the following error:

certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1045)

This issue can arise when working with HTTPS URLs, as it indicates a problem with verifying the website's SSL certificate.

To resolve the error, you have installed the "Install Certificates.command" utility, which can help establish the trust chain for SSL certificates. Here's what happens during this process:

1. Trust Chain Establishment: When connecting to an HTTPS website, your browser or Python program checks the website's SSL certificate to ensure its authenticity. The certificate is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA), which is a trusted third-party entity responsible for verifying the website's identity.
2. Local Certificate Store: Your system's default certificate store contains a collection of trusted root certificates from various CAs. When verifying a website's certificate, the system checks the root certificate of the issuing CA in the local store.
3. Missing Local Issuer Certificate: In some cases, the root certificate for the issuing CA may not be installed in the local store. This can cause the verification process to fail, resulting in the error you were facing.
4. Install Certificates.command: By running the provided command, you can install the missing certificates from the operating system's default sources. This ensures that your system has the necessary trusted root certificates to verify the SSL certificates of websites like the one you were trying to access.

To enhance your understanding of security and certificates, you can refer to the following resources:

• [HTTP and HTTPS Encryption with SSL/TLS](https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/deploy360/security/http-https-encryption-ssl-tls/)
• [TLS/SSL Certificates for Dummies](https://www.globalsign.com/en/information-center/certificate-guides/ssl-certificates-in-five-minutes)
• [Certificate Authorities (CAs)](https://www.digicert.com/learn/certificate-authority/)

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