Python error - "ImportError: cannot import name 'dist'"

Question

I'm on Ubuntu 16.04, and I get:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/omermazig/.virtualenvs/fixi/bin/pip", line 7, in <module>
    from pip import main
  File "/home/omermazig/.virtualenvs/fixi/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/__init__.py", line 26, in <module>
    from pip.utils import get_installed_distributions, get_prog
  File "/home/omermazig/.virtualenvs/fixi/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/utils/__init__.py", line 23, in <module>
    from pip.locations import (
  File "/home/omermazig/.virtualenvs/fixi/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/locations.py", line 9, in <module>
    from distutils import sysconfig
  File "/home/omermazig/.virtualenvs/fixi/lib/python3.6/distutils/__init__.py", line 25, in <module>
    from distutils import dist, sysconfig
ImportError: cannot import name 'dist'

When I run anything with python. This specifically is for trying to run "pip freeze". What to do?

sudo apt-get install python3-distutils – Girish Gupta May 09 '18 at 10:19 — Girish Gupta, May 09 '18 at 10:19
sudo apt-get worked for me ! thanks – vatsalay Sep 09 '20 at 05:24 — vatsalay, Sep 09 '20 at 05:24

score 50 · Answer 1 · answered May 12 '18 at 08:57

50

try it

sudo apt install python3-distutils

answered May 12 '18 at 08:57

user1941407

2,722
4
27
39

2

it fixed the ImportError for me (Ubuntu 16.04 inside a virtualenv with python3.6). – jfs May 14 '18 at 08:56
there's no such thing as Ubuntu inside a virtualenv. You must mean virtualenv with python3.6 running on Ubuntu 16.04 – cryanbhu Jul 15 '18 at 07:50
11

"python3-distutils is already the newest version (3.7.3-1ubuntu1)" did not solve problem (which happens in a virtualenv, not system python) – Gringo Suave May 21 '19 at 20:05

score 24 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 05 '19 at 10:16

24

My case was when I upgraded Ubuntu 18 -> 19. So it reinstalled python and what I needed to do is:

remove old virtual environment
create a new one
install requirements via pip into it

answered Nov 05 '19 at 10:16

Vadim

1,131
17
16

12

yep, i just upgraded from 19.10 to 20.04 and the same happened to me. – Comm4nd0 May 10 '20 at 15:41
1

@Comm4nd0 Same here. But I could not create a requirements.txt from the old one either! Should be done before the Ubuntu upgrade! – smcs Sep 08 '20 at 12:03

score 18 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 09 '20 at 11:35

I ran into this problem after installing Python 3.8 on Ubuntu (I have version 16.04)

$ lsb_release -d
Description:     Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS

Reproduce the error

Just try to import distutils

$ python3 -c "from distutils import sysconfig"
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: cannot import name 'sysconfig' from 'distutils' (/usr/lib/python3.8/distutils/__init__.py)

$ sudo apt install python3-distutils          
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package python3-distutils

The package python3-distutils cannot be found

$ sudo apt install python3-distutils          
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package python3-distutils

list available distutils

What helped was to list all distutil packages using a regexp

$ apt list *distutils*
Listing... Done
python-distutils-extra/xenial,xenial 2.39-1 all
python-stsci.distutils/xenial,xenial 0.3.7-4 all
python3-distutils-extra/xenial,xenial 2.39-1 all
python3-stsci.distutils/xenial,xenial 0.3.7-4 all
python3.7-distutils/xenial,xenial 3.7.8-1+xenial1 all
python3.8-distutils/xenial,xenial 3.8.3-1+xenial1 all
python3.9-distutils/xenial,xenial 3.9.0~b4-1+xenial1 all

Install the correct distutils package

For my Python 3.8 I picked python3.8-distutils and it worked

$ sudo apt-get install -y python3.8-distutils

But if `python-3.7` remains installed in the system, it will still be broken, and cannot import the missing `distutils/dist.py` file :-( — ankostis, Aug 26 '20 at 09:29

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 18 '19 at 12:58

13

Since I run into this issue everytime I update my ubuntu version every six months, then stumble on the exact same SO result, here is my solution.

If the other solutions listed here don't work (installing python3-distutils), it might be because of different python versions between the system and the virtualenv.

The easy solution is to destroy your virtualenv, then recreate it from scratch.

answered Jun 18 '19 at 12:58

Thibault J

4,336
33
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Worked for me! Also had to change the python version in the `[requires]` section of my Pipfile. – Nero Vanbiervliet May 27 '20 at 07:06

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 24 '21 at 14:05

Solved: I've just got this issue in a virtual environment installed 2 years ago, using python3.7

Running pip3 or python3.7 -c "from distutils import dist, sysconfig" from the venv, I got the error ImportError: cannot import name 'dist'

Using system python 3.9, this error disappers.

I solved copying the /usr/lib/python3.9/distutils into the python3.7 virtual environment.

score -1 · Answer 6 · answered May 06 '18 at 15:00

Take a loot at this (similar problem): https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5367

Possible fix:

Download Python source from https://www.python.org/
Decompress the source code
Install the following dependencies:

sudo apt-get install zlib1g-dev (needed to compile Python)
and install:

sudo apt-get install libreadline-gplv2-dev libncursesw5-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev libbz2-dev (needed by Pip to make SSL requests)

Compile and install Python:

/configure

make

make install

Python 3.6 with Pip should be installed.

Full credit to jonbesga.

It's not ideal to compile things from source in Ubuntu, regarding updates and distribution integration. — Herbert, Jun 26 '20 at 15:01

Python error - "ImportError: cannot import name 'dist'"

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