python module_error ai_generated true

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils'

ID: python/setuptools-distutils-removed-python312

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80%Fix Rate
90%Confidence
0Evidence
2024-02-05First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
3.12 active — — —

Root Cause

Python 3.12 removed the stdlib distutils module. Older setuptools versions and legacy setup.py scripts that import distutils directly fail. setuptools >= 60 provides a vendored distutils shim but only if SETUPTOOLS_USE_DISTUTILS is not set to stdlib.

generic

中文

Python 3.12 移除了标准库的 distutils 模块。导入 distutils 的旧版 setuptools 和遗留 setup.py 脚本会失败。setuptools >= 60 提供了内置的 distutils 兼容层，但前提是 SETUPTOOLS_USE_DISTUTILS 未设置为 stdlib。

Workarounds

  1. 92% success 
    pip install --upgrade 'setuptools>=69' && export SETUPTOOLS_USE_DISTUTILS=local
  2. 80% success 
    pip install standard-distutils  # or use setuptools>=60 which vendors it
  3. 85% success 
    pyenv install 3.11.9 && pyenv local 3.11.9

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. 95% fail

    No such package exists on PyPI; distutils was a stdlib module, not a distributable package.

  2. 70% fail

    Old setuptools (<60) does not provide the shim, so the import still fails downstream.