Summary
The Python 3.14 Ubuntu Noble runtime images published to MCR ship the
unixODBC driver manager (libodbc2) but not the Microsoft SQL Server
ODBC drivers (msodbcsql17 / msodbcsql18). This breaks any App Service
Python 3.14 deployment that uses pyodbc / mssql-django / pymssql,
which works on 3.13 and earlier.
Reproduction
Pulling the latest published 3.14 tag and inspecting it:
docker run --rm mcr.microsoft.com/oryx/python:3.14-ubuntu-noble-20260217.1 \
bash -c "cat /etc/odbcinst.ini 2>&1; ls /opt/microsoft 2>/dev/null; dpkg -l | grep -E 'odbc|mssql'"
Output:
cat: /etc/odbcinst.ini: No such file or directory
ii libodbc2:amd64 2.3.12-1ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 ODBC Driver Manager library for Unix
No /etc/odbcinst.ini, no /opt/microsoft/, no msodbcsql* packages.
For comparison, on the 3.13 image both msodbcsql17 and msodbcsql18 are
installed and /etc/odbcinst.ini registers them.
Impact
On Azure App Service Linux with the Python 3.14 stack, any app using
SQL Server fails at startup or first DB call with:
('01000', "[01000] [unixODBC][Driver Manager]Can't open lib 'ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server' : file not found (0) (SQLDriverConnect)")
Same requirements.txt and code work on the Python 3.13 stack.
Likely cause
PR #2635 (commit ccd7b21) onboarded the 3.14 Noble image. One of the
bullets reads: "install odbc2 package only for ubuntu based image" —
which adds libodbc2 (the manager) but does not install
msodbcsql17/msodbcsql18 (the actual drivers).
images/runtime/python/install-dependencies.sh on main does install
both drivers and writes /etc/unixODBC/odbcinst.ini, but that path does
not appear to be executed for the Noble flavor of the 3.14 runtime
image — the published artifact does not contain those packages.
Suggested fix
Ensure the Noble runtime path for Python (and any other Noble-based
images that previously shipped with SQL Server connectivity on Bookworm)
runs the same MS package install steps as install-dependencies.sh:
- Add the Microsoft packages.microsoft.com apt source for Ubuntu Noble
(signed-by GPG, replacing deprecated apt-key).
- ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y msodbcsql17 msodbcsql18 mssql-tools18 unixodbc-dev.
- Verify /etc/odbcinst.ini lists both drivers after build.
Verification
After the fix, the reproduction command above should show both drivers
in dpkg -l, and:
python -c "import pyodbc; print(pyodbc.drivers())"
# ['ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server', 'ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server']
Environment
- Image checked: mcr.microsoft.com/oryx/python:3.14-ubuntu-noble-20260217.1
- Also confirmed on the version currently rolled to App Service Python
3.14 stack (Linux).
- Working baseline: mcr.microsoft.com/oryx/python:3.13-* (both drivers
present). 
Summary
The Python 3.14 Ubuntu Noble runtime images published to MCR ship the
unixODBC driver manager (
libodbc2) but not the Microsoft SQL ServerODBC drivers (
msodbcsql17/msodbcsql18). This breaks any App ServicePython 3.14 deployment that uses
pyodbc/mssql-django/pymssql,which works on 3.13 and earlier.
Reproduction
Pulling the latest published 3.14 tag and inspecting it: