python module_error ai_generated true

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils' File "setup.py", line 3, in <module> from distutils.core import setup

ID: python/setuptools-distutils-removed-python-312

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80%Fix Rate
90%Confidence
0Evidence
2024-01-08First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
3.12 active — — —
3.13 active — — —

Root Cause

Python 3.12 removed the stdlib `distutils` module (PEP 632). Legacy setup.py files and old setuptools versions (<60) import it directly, so building or installing the package fails on 3.12+.

generic

中文

Python 3.12 移除了标准库 `distutils` 模块（PEP 632）。旧版 setup.py 和 setuptools（<60）会直接导入它，导致在 3.12+ 上构建或安装失败。

Workarounds

  1. 90% success 
    Upgrade setuptools to >=60, which vendors a distutils shim:

pip install --upgrade "setuptools>=60"

Then rebuild with `python -m build` or `pip install .`.
  2. 80% success 
    Install the standalone backport for tools that still need the real distutils:

pip install setuptools
pip install --upgrade pip
# or, for legacy code:
pip install setuptools==69.5.1  # last version with full shim

For projects you control, migrate setup.py to pyproject.toml with the `[build-system]` table.

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. 95% fail

    There is no PyPI package named `distutils`; the module was stdlib-only. pip reports 'No matching distribution found'.

  2. 60% fail

    setuptools' distutils shim is only installed when setuptools>=60 is present and even then some submodules (distutils.util, distutils.sysconfig) are not fully emulated.