Python3 plugin fails to install requirements that are only available as wheels
Metadata
Current evaluation
Snapcraft 1.x python3 plugin passed --install-option=--prefix=usr to pip 8.1.2, which disabled wheel usage and broke installs of wheel-only packages (e.g. entrypoints). 10 years old, 0 comments, no maintainer interaction; the plugin was since rewritten in the modern craft-parts codebase.
Suggested action: close stale
Reason: The report is 3694 days old with 0 comments and no maintainer interaction, and it targets the snapcraft 1.x python3 plugin that invoked pip 8.1.2 (2015) with --install-option=--prefix=usr. The current codebase is the rewritten craft-parts/craft-application architecture (snapcraft/parts/, extensions/, models/), whose python plugin no longer uses that pip invocation, so the affected version and code path are long since EOL and the bug is no longer reproducible.
Impact:
20
Quick Win:
11.0
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
72
Support Request:
10
Issue body
It seems like the combination of options passed to pip prevents usage of wheels, which makes some packages uninstallable:
This is how snapcraft fails:
creating /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip-8.1.2-py3.5.egg
Extracting pip-8.1.2-py3.5.egg to /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages
Adding pip 8.1.2 to easy-install.pth file
Installing pip3 script to /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/bin
Installing pip3.5 script to /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/bin
Installing pip script to /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/bin
Installed /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip-8.1.2-py3.5.egg
Processing dependencies for pip
Finished processing dependencies for pip
python3 /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/bin/pip3 install --root /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install --install-option=--prefix=usr --requirement /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/requirements.txt
/home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py3.5.egg/pip/commands/install.py:180: UserWarning: Disabling all use of wheels due to the use of --build-options / --global-options / --install-options.
cmdoptions.check_install_build_global(options)
Collecting entrypoints==0.2.2 (from -r /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/requirements.txt (line 1))
Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement entrypoints==0.2.2 (from -r /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/requirements.txt (line 1)) (from versions: )
No matching distribution found for entrypoints==0.2.2 (from -r /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/requirements.txt (line 1))
Command '['/bin/sh', '/tmp/tmpe_yi6b3p', 'python3', '/home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/bin/pip3', 'install', '--root', '/home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install', '--install-option=--prefix=usr', '--requirement', '/home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/requirements.txt']' returned non-zero exit status 1
And here is what is really happening, when trying to repeat the step manually:
(nikola) ralsina@clakker:~/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft$ /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/bin/pip3 install --root /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install --install-option=--prefix=usr --requirement /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/requirements.txt
/home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/parts/nikola-source/install/usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py3.5.egg/pip/commands/install.py:180: UserWarning: Disabling all use of wheels due to the use of --build-options / --global-options / --install-options.
cmdoptions.check_install_build_global(options)
Collecting entrypoints==0.2.2 (from -r /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/requirements.txt (line 1))
Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement entrypoints==0.2.2 (from -r /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/requirements.txt (line 1)) (from versions: )
No matching distribution found for entrypoints==0.2.2 (from -r /home/ralsina/Desktop/proyectos/nikola/master/snapcraft/requirements.txt (line 1))
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
20
Quick Win:
11.0
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
45
Confidence:
72
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Snapcraft 1.x python3 plugin passed --install-option=--prefix=usr to pip 8.1.2, which disabled wheel usage and broke installs of wheel-only packages (e.g. entrypoints). 10 years old, 0 comments, no maintainer interaction; the plugin was since rewritten in the modern craft-parts codebase. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
5
|
close stale | Python3 plugin passes --install-option to pip, disabling wheel support and causing installation failures for packages only available as wheels. The report is over a decade old with no maintainer interaction. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
30
Confidence:
95
Support Request:
5
|
close stale | Python3 plugin fails to install wheel-only packages because pip disables wheels when --install-option is used. Issue is over 10 years old with no maintainer response. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
20
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
0
|
close stale | Python3 plugin fails to install wheel-only packages because pip disables wheels when --install-option is used. Issue is over 10 years old with no maintainer interaction or labels. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
35
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
15
|
close stale | Python3 plugin passes --install-option to pip, disabling wheel support and breaking installation of wheel-only packages. The issue remains open, unassigned, and inactive with no comments or updates since submission. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1753965 Error installing Python packages fails with trace | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Python plugin pip install failures (PyPI miss, VCS clone fail, HTTP 404) abort snapcraft with raw pip output plus a long traceback instead of a clean error. 8.5 years old, zero comments, references removed code path snapcraft/plugins/_python/_pip.py. | |
| #1675479 python plugin doesn't work for namespace packages | snapcraft (launchpad) | open | Snapcraft's python plugin (python2.7 era) failed to install namespace packages like repoze.lru and paste without __init__.py, causing ImportErrors in the keystone snap. Open since 2016 with zero comments; the affected plugin and pip bug are long obsolete. |