Build error

[surfiniaburger]

Hi! I noticed there is currently a build error, here is a suggested fix.

Failure reason (from the logs)

• The pip install step fails while preparing metadata for chess (a dependency of textarena). The error is:
  "ERROR: Can not execute setup.py since setuptools is not available in the build environment."
• In short: the build environment is missing setuptools (and wheel). pip is trying to build a source distribution that runs setup.py and fails because setuptools isn't installed in the isolated build environment.

Fix (short)

• Ensure pip, setuptools and wheel are installed/upgraded in the image before running pip install for your project dependencies. Add a step that upgrades pip/setuptools/wheel prior to any pip install -r ... or prior to the uv pip install step in the builder image.

Concrete code changes to apply

• Update the base/builder Dockerfile (so uv/pyproject installs run with setuptools available) and any env-specific Dockerfiles that run pip install -r requirements.txt.

Example patch suggestions:

1. src/core/containers/images/Dockerfile (builder stage)

• Current file: https://github.com/meta-pytorch/OpenEnv/blob/28b6c8153d4729bbc5c61bd8483e2914e888d26d/src/core/containers/images/Dockerfile
• Replace the single uv install line with an upgrade-first approach:

Before
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv
uv pip install --system -r pyproject.toml

After
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv
# Ensure pip, setuptools and wheel exist in the build environment
uv pip install --system --upgrade pip setuptools wheel &&
uv pip install --system -r pyproject.toml

2. src/envs/atari_env/server/Dockerfile

• Current file: https://github.com/meta-pytorch/OpenEnv/blob/28b6c8153d4729bbc5c61bd8483e2914e888d26d/src/envs/atari_env/server/Dockerfile
• Replace the pip install line to upgrade build tools first.

Before
COPY src/envs/atari_env/server/requirements.txt /tmp/requirements.txt
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r /tmp/requirements.txt && rm /tmp/requirements.txt

After
COPY src/envs/atari_env/server/requirements.txt /tmp/requirements.txt
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir --upgrade pip setuptools wheel &&
pip install --no-cache-dir -r /tmp/requirements.txt && rm /tmp/requirements.txt

3. src/envs/browsergym_env/server/Dockerfile

• Current file: https://github.com/meta-pytorch/OpenEnv/blob/28b6c8153d4729bbc5c61bd8483e2914e888d26d/src/envs/browsergym_env/server/Dockerfile
• Update the browsergym requirements install the same way:

Before
COPY src/envs/browsergym_env/server/requirements.txt /tmp/browsergym_requirements.txt
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r /tmp/browsergym_requirements.txt &&
rm /tmp/browsergym_requirements.txt

After
COPY src/envs/browsergym_env/server/requirements.txt /tmp/browsergym_requirements.txt
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir --upgrade pip setuptools wheel &&
pip install --no-cache-dir -r /tmp/browsergym_requirements.txt &&
rm /tmp/browsergym_requirements.txt

Notes and alternatives

• Upgrading pip/setuptools/wheel first is the lowest friction fix and addresses the "setup.py requires setuptools" failure.
• If you prefer not to modify images, you can also:
  • Add a top-level RUN pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel in the Dockerfile right before any pip install command that triggers the error.
  • Pin textarena (or its transitive dependency chess) to a version that provides a binary wheel for the target platform, avoiding source builds.
  • Add a pyproject/build-system dependency for any in-repo packages that require build-time setuptools (if applicable).
• If packages require compilation, you may also need apt build dependencies (build-essential, python3-dev, etc.). The current failure is specifically missing setuptools so start with the steps above.

How to validate locally / in CI

• Rebuild the failing image locally to confirm:
  docker build -f src/core/containers/images/Dockerfile -t openenv-base:fix .
  docker build -f src/envs/atari_env/server/Dockerfile -t atari-env:fix .

• Re-run the GitHub Actions workflow after pushing the Dockerfile changes.

Suggested commit message

• "docker: ensure pip/setuptools/wheel are installed before installing dependencies to fix build isolation errors"

References (files edited)

• src/core/containers/images/Dockerfile (ref: 28b6c81)
  https://github.com/meta-pytorch/OpenEnv/blob/28b6c8153d4729bbc5c61bd8483e2914e888d26d/src/core/containers/images/Dockerfile
• src/envs/atari_env/server/Dockerfile (ref: 28b6c81)
  https://github.com/meta-pytorch/OpenEnv/blob/28b6c8153d4729bbc5c61bd8483e2914e888d26d/src/envs/atari_env/server/Dockerfile
• src/envs/browsergym_env/server/Dockerfile (ref: 28b6c81)
  https://github.com/meta-pytorch/OpenEnv/blob/28b6c8153d4729bbc5c61bd8483e2914e888d26d/src/envs/browsergym_env/server/Dockerfile

This change should resolve the metadata-generation-failed / setuptools missing error seen in the logs.

[surfiniaburger]

@burtenshaw

[burtenshaw]

Sorry for the delay on this. It should be solved by #219 and #205 could you validate with your builds please?