Installation error: `ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils.msvccompiler'`

[MisterEyMan]

I have Octoprint setup on my DietPi. When trying to install Arc Welder I get:

root@DietPi:~# pip install "https://github.com/FormerLurker/ArcWelderPlugin/archive/master.zip"
Collecting https://github.com/FormerLurker/ArcWelderPlugin/archive/master.zip
  Downloading https://github.com/FormerLurker/ArcWelderPlugin/archive/master.zip
     / 200.1 kB 657.6 kB/s 0:00:00
  Preparing metadata (setup.py) ... error
  error: subprocess-exited-with-error
  
  × python setup.py egg_info did not run successfully.
  │ exit code: 1
  ╰─> [6 lines of output]
      Traceback (most recent call last):
        File "<string>", line 2, in <module>
        File "<pip-setuptools-caller>", line 34, in <module>
        File "/tmp/pip-req-build-0xt8qnjh/setup.py", line 32, in <module>
          from distutils.msvccompiler import MSVCCompiler
      ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils.msvccompiler'
      [end of output]
  
  note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
error: metadata-generation-failed

× Encountered error while generating package metadata.
╰─> See above for output.

note: This is an issue with the package mentioned above, not pip.
hint: See above for details.

I have searched in vain for that error but no luck. Any ideas?
Thanks.

[kamilko]

This issue still exists in setup DietPi+OctoPrint from software manager. Everything installed fresh on 2024.12.01. on raspberry pi.

[gisforgirard]

https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/4620#issuecomment-2323233905

[gcfrxbots]

I know this is old but I had this same problem and managed to fix it. Here's my steps, and the modified file:

1. Enable the web SSH server on Octoprint (I'm using Octo4a on an old Android), and connect to the terminal by navigating to octoprint.ip.address:5002 and signing in with the credentials specified within the server.

2. Run the following command: /home/octoprint/octoprint-venv/bin/python3 -m pip install "setuptools==73.0.1; python_version >= '3.8'" "setuptools; python_version < '3.8'"

3. This won't fix it, at least it didn't for me. The plugin has an outdated dependency. I downloaded it and fixed the dependency, the modified plugin is attached. In OctoPrint, go to Plugin Manager > Add Plugins > Upload from File and upload that. It works!

Hope this helps someone.

ArcWelderPlugin-1.1.0rc4_FIX.zip