[Bug] `import ray` fails with `_Py_GetArgcArgv` symbol not found on macOS with Python 3.8.9

[tomtseng]

What happened + What you expected to happen

I am able to reproduce on a macOS instance in CircleCI that import ray gives the following error when I install and import it in a virtualenv with Python 3.8.9:

python -c "import ray"

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/Users/distiller/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ray/__init__.py", line 115, in <module>
    import ray._raylet  # noqa: E402
  File "python/ray/_raylet.pyx", line 16, in init ray._raylet
ImportError: dlopen(/Users/distiller/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ray/thirdparty_files/setproctitle.cpython-38-darwin.so, 0x0002): symbol not found in flat namespace '_Py_GetArgcArgv'

Oddly, the error does not occur if I first invoke import setproctitle before importing ray.

Versions / Dependencies

• macOS 12.3.1
• Python 3.8.9
• ray==1.13.0
• Xcode 13.4.1

Reproduction script

CircleCI config.yml script:

version: 2.1

jobs:      
  import-ray:
    macos:
      xcode: 13.4.1
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run:
          name: Install ray and setproctitle in virtualenv
          command: |
            virtualenv -p python3.8 ~/venv
            source ~/venv/bin/activate
            pip install ray setproctitle
      - run:
          name: Print OS, Python, and Python package versions
          command: |
            source ~/venv/bin/activate
            sw_vers
            python --version
            pip freeze --all
      - run:
          # this succeeds
          name: Check importing setproctitle and then importing ray works
          command: |
            source ~/venv/bin/activate
            python -c "import setproctitle; import ray"
      - run:
          # this fails
          name: Check importing ray by itself works
          command: |
            source ~/venv/bin/activate
            python -c "import ray"
workflows:
  sample:
    jobs:
      - import-ray

Issue Severity

No response

[rkooo567]

pip install ray setproctitle

if you don't download setproctitle, does it still happen?

[tomtseng]

Yup, it still does.

[rkooo567]

Can you also try using conda and see if this is still reproducible?

Not that I recommend you to use conda, but I'd like to know if this is virtual env related issue (I feel like I've seen a similar issue before)

[tomtseng]

Interesting—conda works.

For reference: The CircleCI config.yml script I used to test this:

version: 2.1

jobs:      
  import-ray:
    macos:
      xcode: 13.4.1
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run:
          name: Install conda
          command: |
            brew install --cask anaconda
      - run:
          name: Init conda
          # required for `conda activate` to work and places `conda` in the PATH
          command: |
            /usr/local/anaconda3/bin/conda init bash
      - run:
          name: Install ray
          # should use python=3.8.9 to match the Python version in the virtualenv example,
          # but conda doesn't have python 3.8.9
          command: |
            conda create --name my_env python=3.8.8 --yes
            conda activate my_env
            pip install ray
      - run:
          name: Print OS, Python, and Python package versions
          command: |
            conda activate my_env
            sw_vers
            python --version
            pip freeze --all
      - run:
          name: Check importing ray by itself works
          command: |
            conda activate my_env
            python -c "import ray"


workflows:
  sample:
    jobs:
      - import-ray

[rkooo567]

I think Ray is probably not working well with virtualenv. I feel like I've seen this issue before. We will take a look at this issue later.

[rkooo567]

cc @scv119

[hora-anyscale]

Per Triage sync: same as https://github.com/ray-project/ray/issues/22408