Search code examples
pythonvirtualenvpython-packaging

virtualenv creation fails with error "StopIteration"

In attempt to slim down a Docker image with a large Python environment, I tried removing as many files and directories as possible (cached packages, __pycache__ directories, .pyc, .md, .txt files, etc).

Now pre-commit initialization fails because it cannot create its virtual environment. I also cannot use virtualenv directly:

$ python -m virtualenv foo2
StopIteration:
Solution

  • The issue is caused by the removal of entry_points.txt from site-packages/virtualenv-20.17.0.dist-info/.

    This files defines entry points, including console_scripts ones that allow the shell to call appropriate functions (source).