pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound: The 'PyInstaller' distribution was not found and is required by the application

[mx5dev]

I'm trying to get an exe file from a python software composed by multiple python scripts.

Here my env setup:

• Windows 10 x64
• Python 3.7.3
• PyInstaller 5.0.dev0

Folder hierarchy:

folder A
    folder B
        main python script 
        folder hooks
            hook-configuration.py
    folder C
        python files with definitions called in the main python script

Before to write the question I've read the issue #4651 and I wrote my hook file called `hook-configuration.py., with the following content:

from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_data_files
from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_all

datas, binaries, hiddenimports = collect_all('configuration')

hiddenimports = ['configuration.model.config_model',
                 'configuration.model.component',
                 'configuration.model.shadow_mode',
                 'configuration.model.opcua_server',
                 'configuration.model.environment',
                 'configuration.model.component_group',
                 'configuration.model.deployment',
                 'configuration.model.deployment',
                 'configuration.model.controls',
                 'configuration.ixl_parser.parsed_document',
                 'configuration.ixl_parser.parsed_xml_document',
                'configuration.ixl_parser.ccs_properties',
                'configuration.model.tarball_target']


datas = collect_data_files('ConfigModel')
datas = collect_data_files('Component')
datas = collect_data_files('IxlComponent')
datas = collect_data_files('ModbusComponent')
datas = collect_data_files('EbisatComponent')
datas = collect_data_files('S7CommComponent')
datas = collect_data_files('FffisEgComponent')
datas = collect_data_files('TransformerProducerComponent')
datas = collect_data_files('TransformerWorkerComponent')
datas = collect_data_files('C85IpComponent')
datas = collect_data_files('ShadowModeComponent')
datas = collect_data_files('OpcuaServer')
datas = collect_data_files('EnvironmentElement')
datas = collect_data_files('ComponentGroup')
datas = collect_data_files('Deployment')
datas = collect_data_files('DeploymentSchema')
datas = collect_data_files('DataCentre')
datas = collect_data_files('DataCentreDeployment')
datas = collect_data_files('ClusterNode')
datas = collect_data_files('DerivedIndication')
datas = collect_data_files('UnmappedIndication')
datas = collect_data_files('RtuDataControl')
datas = collect_data_files('ParsedDocument')
datas = collect_data_files('ParsingFailedException')
datas = collect_data_files('ParsedXmlDocument')
datas = collect_data_files('ParseExtraFiles')
datas = collect_data_files('CcsProperties')
datas = collect_data_files('TarballExportTarget')

The entrypoint of the program is a script which has the following import:

import argparse
import logging
import os
import sys
import time
from copy import deepcopy
from lxml import etree as ET
from configuration.model.config_model import ConfigModel  # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.model.component import Component, IxlComponent, ModbusComponent, EbisatComponent, S7CommComponent, FffisEgComponent # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.model.component import TransformerProducerComponent, TransformerWorkerComponent, C85IpComponent # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.model.shadow_mode import ShadowModeComponent # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.model.opcua_server import OpcuaServer # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.model.environment import EnvironmentElement # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.model.component_group import ComponentGroup # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.model.deployment import Deployment, DeploymentSchema, DataCentre, DataCentreDeployment, ClusterNode # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.model.indications import DerivedIndication, UnmappedIndication # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.model.controls import RtuDataControl # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.ixl_parser.parsed_document import ParsedDocument, ParsingFailedException # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.ixl_parser.parsed_xml_document import ParsedXmlDocument, ParseExtraFiles, RtuData # pylint: disable=import-error
from configuration.ixl_parser.ccs_properties import CcsProperties # pylint: disable=import-error
from collections import defaultdict # pylint: disable=import-error

I also tried to launch pyInstaller using -F and --debug=all arguments (found it in #4809) but it doesn't work.

Stacktrace / full error message

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "hooks\hook-configuration.py", line 1, in <module>
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 953, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 953, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 677, in _load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 728, in exec_module
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "c:\python\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\__init__.py", line 55, in <module>
__version__ = pkg_resources.get_distribution('PyInstaller').version
File "c:\python\lib\site-packages\pkg_resources\__init__.py", line 466, in get_distribution
dist = get_provider(dist)
File "c:\python\lib\site-packages\pkg_resources\__init__.py", line 342, in get_provider
return working_set.find(moduleOrReq) or require(str(moduleOrReq))[0]
File "c:\python\lib\site-packages\pkg_resources\__init__.py", line 886, in require
needed = self.resolve(parse_requirements(requirements))
File "c:\python\lib\site-packages\pkg_resources\__init__.py", line 772, in resolve
raise DistributionNotFound(req, requirers)
pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound: The 'PyInstaller' distribution was not found and is required by the application
[7260] Failed to execute script hook-configuration

[mx5dev]

The pyInstaller command is:

pyinstaller --noconfirm --onefile --console --add-data "folderC" --additional-hooks-dir "hooks" --runtime-hook "hook-configuration.py" --hidden-import "appdirs" --hidden-import "packaging" --hidden-import "packaging.version" --hidden-import "packaging.specifiers" --hidden-import "packaging.requirements"  "main.py"

[rokm]

1. The hook is incorrect; either you do collect_all(x) (which internally calls collect_data_files(x), collect_submodules(x), and collect_dynamic_libraries(x) or you manually specify hiddenimports and partially collect datas. Even so, you should be apending to datas, not overwriting it with each call. And collect_data_files() expects package name, not names of classes from your modules...

2. --runtime-hook "hook-configuration.py" your hook is not a run-time one, so this is also incorrect.

3. pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound: The 'PyInstaller' distribution was not found and is required by the application

The application should not require PyInstaller anywhere, so either this is caused by incorrect --runtime-hook (see point 2) or your application is importing PyInstaller somewhere, which it should not.

[mx5dev]

I removed the --runtime-hook argument.
Then I have simplified my hook file with the following content:

hiddenimports = ['packaging',
                'packaging.version',
                'packaging.specifiers',
                'packaging.requirements',
                'configuration.model.config_model',
                 'configuration.model.component',
                 'configuration.model.shadow_mode',
                 'configuration.model.opcua_server',
                 'configuration.model.environment',
                 'configuration.model.component_group',
                 'configuration.model.deployment',
                 'configuration.model.controls',
                 'configuration.ixl_parser.parsed_document',
                 'configuration.ixl_parser.parsed_xml_document',
                'configuration.ixl_parser.ccs_properties',
                'configuration.model.tarball_target']

The pyInstaller command line now is pyinstaller --noconfirm --onefile --console --add-data "folderC" --additional-hooks-dir "hooks" ""main.py"": the command line is simplified, I use absolute paths.

Stacktrace / full error message

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'configuration'

[rokm]

What if you try doing collect_all() in the hook instead. That way, you'll be sure that everything from configuration is collected, and see if there's any other errors...

I.e.,

# hook-configuration.py
from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_all
datas, binaries, hiddenimports = collect_all('configuration')

[mx5dev]

I tried this way some days ago but it didn't work, but I tried again.
Using the hook content with collect_all() the error is still the same.

PyInstaller command:

pyinstaller --noconfirm --onefile --console --clean --add-data "folderC" --hidden-import "packaging" --hidden-import "packaging.version" --hidden-import "packaging.specifiers" --hidden-import "packaging.requirements" --additional-hooks-dir "hooks"  "main.py"

With the --add-data "FolderC" I have specified the folder where python scripts which define classes and modules used by the main.py but the error remains the same.

[rokm]

Where do configuration and packaging come from? Are these your custom packages? Are they within "Folder C"?

--add-data "folderC"

This is not doing what you probably think it does. If you need to make contents of folderC visible to python/PyInstaller, you need to use -p or --paths...