Pip: AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'packaging'

[brnrc]

# pip --version
pip 6.1.1 from /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages (python 2.7)

# pip install supervisor --pre
Collecting supervisor
/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/requests/packages/urllib3/util/ssl_.py:79: InsecurePlatformWarning: A true SSLContext object is not available. This prevents urllib3 from configuring SSL appropriately and may cause certain SSL connections to fail. For more information, see https://urllib3.readthedocs.org/en/latest/security.html#insecureplatformwarning.
  InsecurePlatformWarning
  Downloading supervisor-3.1.3.tar.gz (391kB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 393kB 950kB/s 
  Exception:
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/basecommand.py", line 246, in main
      status = self.run(options, args)
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/commands/install.py", line 342, in run
      requirement_set.prepare_files(finder)
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req/req_set.py", line 345, in prepare_files
      functools.partial(self._prepare_file, finder))
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req/req_set.py", line 290, in _walk_req_to_install
      more_reqs = handler(req_to_install)
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req/req_set.py", line 502, in _prepare_file
      abstract_dist.prep_for_dist()
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req/req_set.py", line 123, in prep_for_dist
      self.req_to_install.run_egg_info()
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req/req_install.py", line 363, in run_egg_info
      self.setup_py, self.name,
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req/req_install.py", line 334, in setup_py
      import setuptools  # noqa
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/setuptools/__init__.py", line 11, in <module>
      from setuptools.extension import Extension
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/setuptools/extension.py", line 8, in <module>
      from .dist import _get_unpatched
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/setuptools/dist.py", line 21, in <module>
      packaging = pkg_resources.packaging
  AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'packaging'

[dstufft]

I think this might be because of the patching that Debian does, maye @warsaw can give some insight?

[rbtcollins]

I could have a look - what OS is this on, and what version of python-pkg-resources do you have installed?

I see you've installed a local setuptools - what version is that ('pip list' should show it).

[geremih]

I was facing a similar problem. It appeared to be because of a stale compiled file (pkg_resources.pyc).
I did

import pkg_resources
print pkg_resources.__file__ 

I deleted the compiled file and everything was fine.

[keith24]

I got this error and tried un- and reinstalling pip. To my surprise... pip wasn't installed.

sudo apt-get install python-pip

I felt so stupid I almost couldn't post this. Hope it helps anyone as dim as me!

[jdejoode]

"I deleted the compiled file and everything was fine."

Had the same issue in a completely different package on Ubuntu and deleting the .pyc files also did the trick. Google brought me here.

[chrisidefix]

I also stumbled across this thread from Google and I solved it by running:

sudo pip install PACKAGENAME

My target directory requires elevated user rights to install python packages there, which I knew, but I usually got a different (permission) error, when running pip without sudo, so I thought it was still worth sharing.

[Bluehorn]

geremih commented on May 4

print pkg_resources.file
I deleted the compiled file and everything was fine.

Thanks, this just worked for me as well. Actually that file was from an old distribute installation, which I removed by

$ pip uninstall distribute
Uninstalling distribute-0.6.49:
  /opt/dynasdk/loco2-rhel6/bin/easy_install
  /opt/dynasdk/loco2-rhel6/bin/easy_install-2.7
  /opt/dynasdk/loco2-rhel6/lib/python2.7/site-packages/distribute-0.6.49-py2.7.egg
Proceed (y/n)? y
  Successfully uninstalled distribute-0.6.49

I wonder if pip could detect this case.

[kynan]

Note that on a Debian or Ubuntu system (e.g. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, which comes with setuptools 3.3) you're messing with files supposedly controlled by apt when removing the stale pkg_resources module. This means if the python-pkg-resources package is ever upgraded or reinstalled, the stale module is reinstated!

This issue is discussed in more detail on Stack Overflow and ask ubuntu.

[rbtcollins]

@DSLituiev thats a problem with easy-install, nothing to do with pip, sorry, even though the error is similar.

[atlas0fd00m]

my own experience, i had both local installation of setuptools and the deb from ubuntu. not sure how that got there. i ended up removing the local install and all was well:

the error message:
$ sudo pip install gsync
Downloading/unpacking gsync
Downloading gsync-0.1.14.tar.gz (44kB): 44kB downloaded
Cleaning up...
Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/basecommand.py", line 122, in main
status = self.run(options, args)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/commands/install.py", line 304, in run
requirement_set.prepare_files(finder, force_root_egg_info=self.bundle, bundle=self.bundle)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req.py", line 1230, in prepare_files
req_to_install.run_egg_info()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req.py", line 293, in run_egg_info
logger.notify('Running setup.py (path:%s) egg_info for package %s' % (self.setup_py, self.name))
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/req.py", line 266, in setup_py
import setuptools
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/setuptools/init.py", line 11, in
from setuptools.extension import Extension
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/setuptools/extension.py", line 8, in
from .dist import _get_unpatched
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/setuptools/dist.py", line 21, in
packaging = pkg_resources.packaging
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'packaging'

troubleshooting:
$ dpkg -l _setuptools_

ii python-setuptools 12.2-1 all Python Distutils Enhancements
un python2.7-setuptools (no description available)
un python3-setuptools (no description available)
un python3.4-setuptools (no description available)

$ locate pkg_resources.pyc
/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pkg_resources/tests/test_pkg_resources.pyc
/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip-6.1.1-py2.7.egg/pip/_vendor/pkg_resources/tests/test_pkg_resources.pyc

$ ipython

In [1]: import pkg_resources
In [2]: print pkg_resources.file
/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/setuptools-6.0.1-py2.7.egg/pkg_resources.pyc

fix:
$ sudo mv /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/setuptools-6.0.1-py2.7.egg ~/
$ sudo pip install gsync
Downloading/unpacking gsync
Downloading gsync-0.1.14.tar.gz (44kB): 44kB downloaded
Running setup.py (path:/tmp/pip-build-FUAtVy/gsync/setup.py) egg_info for package gsync
...

[hectord]

I had the same issue. After upgrading "distribute" from 0.6.24 to 0.7.3, it works. (pip install --upgrade distribute)

[RonnyPfannschmidt]

@hectord note that distribute is deprecated and abandoned after the project was merged back into setuptools

[xavfernandez]

It looks like an issue with a debundled version of pip combined with an upgrade of setuptools.
Nothing much pip could do.