AttributeError: module 'distutils._msvccompiler' has no attribute '_get_vc_env'

setuptools version

setuptools>75.8.2

Python version

Python 3.12

OS

Windows

Additional environment information

No response

Description

After version >75.8.2 , following example code is having an issue:

Error:

AttributeError: module 'distutils._msvccompiler' has no attribute '_get_vc_env'

Example code:

from setuptools._distutils import _msvccompiler
result = _msvccompiler._get_vc_env('x64')
print(result)

Expected behavior

Example code:

from setuptools._distutils import _msvccompiler
result = _msvccompiler._get_vc_env('x64')
print(result)

---

It is working without problem with 75.8.2 or earlier.

pip install setuptools<=75.8.2

output:

returns environment variables

---

On March 9, new version of setuptools is published and after this updat it started to give error:

Error:

AttributeError: module 'distutils._msvccompiler' has no attribute '_get_vc_env'

How to Reproduce

from setuptools._distutils import _msvccompiler
result = _msvccompiler._get_vc_env('x64')
print(result)

Run this with setuptools<=75.8.2 and setuptools>75.8.2

Output

    result = _msvccompiler._get_vc_env('x64')
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AttributeError: module 'distutils._msvccompiler' has no attribute '_get_vc_env'

[kiron111]

same here, after switching back to 75.8.2, this bug doesn't occur

[abravalheri]

@ozanMSFT, @kiron111, I think the best way to go about this would be to open a feature request explaining your use case and why do you need such kind of function (possibly in the pypa/distutils repository), to check if and how a public API can be made available for your use case.

---

Private members/modules are considered implementation details and are free to change arbitrarily among releases. So, in principle when 3rd party scripts try to access a private member of a private module of distutils, the developers of such script are taking the burden of maintenance.

/cc @jaraco which may have more details or a better procedure in mind.

[Avasam]

If you need a quick fix, it's been moved to distutils.compilers.C.msvc, so you can conditionally import based on the setuptools version. But yeah, as abravalheri said, consider using public interface or opening a feature request explaining your use-case to have it in the public API.

@abravalheri , in pytorch 's official repository it is being used to get VC environment variables.

https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/blob/main/tools/build_pytorch_libs.py#L17-L25

This script is being used for building Pytorch.

A reliable public interface would be good, so PyTorch's code can be changed with this reliable interface.

def _get_vc_env(vc_arch: str) -> dict[str, str]:
    try:
        from setuptools import distutils  # type: ignore[import]

        return distutils._msvccompiler._get_vc_env(vc_arch)  # type: ignore[no-any-return]
    except AttributeError:
        from setuptools._distutils import _msvccompiler  # type: ignore[import]

        return _msvccompiler._get_vc_env(vc_arch)  # type: ignore[no-any-return]

---

I've created Feature Request for the distutils

pypa/distutils#340

[jaraco]

it's been moved to distutils.compilers.C.msvc,

Please don't expect it from there. I'd considered making distutils._compilers private, but decided not to given that import distutils is discouraged (if not deprecated) and import setuptools._distutils is explicitly private.

A reliable public interface would be good, so PyTorch's code can be changed with this reliable interface.

Does setuptools.msvc provide the interfaces you need?

[jaraco]

I'm debating whether or not to support backward compatibility for this use-case. On one hand, pytorch is a pretty prominent project. On the other hand, these interfaces were clearly private and have been for a long time. It sounds like pytorch has a decent workaround with pinning Setuptools, so maybe we can focus solely on coming up with a suitable replacement.