ia immediately fails in a new installation

[rburkey2005]

(Using Linux Mint 22, Python 3.12.3.)

I followed the instructions given in the README, literally:

curl -LO https://archive.org/download/ia-pex/ia
chmod +x ia
./ia --help

The following error messages resulted:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
  File "", line 88, in _run_code
  File "/home/rburkey/.pex/unzipped_pexes/70538af60978db20e67dace602bc2859fb192c26/__main__.py", line 106, in 
    bootstrap_pex(__entry_point__, execute=__execute__, venv_dir=__venv_dir__)
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/pex_bootstrapper.py", line 677, in bootstrap_pex
    maybe_reexec_pex(interpreter_test=interpreter_test, python_args=python_args)
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/pex_bootstrapper.py", line 400, in maybe_reexec_pex
    target = find_compatible_interpreter(interpreter_test=interpreter_test)
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/pex_bootstrapper.py", line 321, in find_compatible_interpreter
    target = _select_path_interpreter(
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/pex_bootstrapper.py", line 233, in _select_path_interpreter
    for interpreter in candidate_interpreters_iter:
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/pex_bootstrapper.py", line 189, in iter_compatible_interpreters
    valid_or_error = _valid_interpreter(interpreter)
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/pex_bootstrapper.py", line 167, in _valid_interpreter
    return interpreter_test.test_resolve(interp) if interpreter_test else True
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/pex_bootstrapper.py", line 88, in test_resolve
    pex_environment.resolve()
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/environment.py", line 580, in resolve
    for fingerprinted_distribution in self.resolve_dists(
                                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/environment.py", line 600, in resolve_dists
    self._update_candidate_distributions(
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/environment.py", line 326, in _update_candidate_distributions
    for fingerprinted_dist in distribution_iter:
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/environment.py", line 320, in iter_distributions
    distribution=Distribution.load(dist_path),
                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/dist_metadata.py", line 1016, in load
    return cls(location=location, metadata=DistMetadata.load(location))
                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/rburkey/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pex/dist_metadata.py", line 932, in load
    raise MetadataError(
pex.dist_metadata.MetadataError: Failed to determine project name and version for distribution at /mnt/STORAGE/home/rburkey/.pex/unzipped_pexes/70538af60978db20e67dace602bc2859fb192c26/.deps/certifi-2025.1.31-py3-none-any.whl.

Similar messages are seen for ia configure.

[jjjake]

Does clearing your PEX cache help at all (e.g. deleting the contents of your ~/.pex directory)?

[rburkey2005]

@jjjake I just now deleted ~/.pex entirely and retried the installation steps. It failed again at ./ia --help. The error messages are identical.

However, for what it's worth, I notice that the error messages I cut-and-pasted into my original complaint aren't rendered entirely correctly in this issue-tracking system. The first few lines actually should read

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 88, in _run_code