title: Why can't Python find shared objects that are in directories in sys.path?
body: <p>I'm trying to import <code>pycurl</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ python -c "import pycurl"
  Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "&lt;string&gt;", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
  ImportError: libcurl.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now, <code>libcurl.so.4</code> is in <code>/usr/local/lib</code>. As you can see, this is in <code>sys.path</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ python -c "import sys; print(sys.path)"
  ['', '/usr/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/setuptools-0.6c9-py2.5.egg', 
  '/usr/local/lib/python25.zip', '/usr/local/lib/python2.5', 
  '/usr/local/lib/python2.5/plat-linux2', '/usr/local/lib/python2.5/lib-tk', 
  '/usr/local/lib/python2.5/lib-dynload', 
  '/usr/local/lib/python2.5/sitepackages', '/usr/local/lib', 
  '/usr/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages']
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Any help will be greatly appreciated.</p>