# error in foo setup command: 'install_requires' must be a string or list of strings containing valid project/version requirement specifiers; Invalid requirement, parse error at "'bar >=1.0'"

- **ID:** `python/setuptools-install-requires-parse-error`
- **Domain:** python
- **Category:** config_error
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 80%

## Root Cause

install_requires contains an invalid specifier string with stray characters or malformed version operators.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| 3.x | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **** (98% success)
   ```
   Use valid PEP 440 specifiers: `install_requires=['bar>=1.0']` (no spaces around operators inside quotes).
   ```
2. **** (95% success)
   ```
   Run `python -c "from packaging.requirements import Requirement; Requirement('bar>=1.0')"` to test each string.
   ```

## Dead Ends

- **** — Older setuptools is stricter; the syntax error remains. (85% fail)
- **** — Breaks runtime dependencies for users. (90% fail)