AssertionError when using py2exe

Question

I am fairly new to Python and I need some help with an error message I am receiving. I am trying to make an exe file from a tkinter script with the help of py2exe, but I keep getting an AssertionError whenever I try to run the setup.py script. I have already created an exe file on my computer only a couple of days ago out of the same script without using tkinter. Creating this exe file was no problem. I am wondering if the error message occurs due to the fact that I have already created an exe file recently.

My setup.py script looks normal:

`# setup.py


from distutils.core import setup
import py2exe
setup(console=['MyScript.py'])`

Whenever I run it, I get this error:

AssertionError: distutils has already been patched by <class 'py2exe.patch_distutils.patch_distutils.<locals>.Distribution'>

The entire traceback looks like this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Dir\JetBrains\PyCharm Community Edition 2016.2.3\helpers\pycharm\pycharm_setup_runner.py", line 26, in <module>
exec (fh.read(), globals(), locals())
File "<string>", line 6, in <module>
File "C:\Dir\Python3\lib\distutils\core.py", line 134, in setup
ok = dist.parse_command_line()
File "C:\Dir\Python3\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 471, in parse_command_line
args = self._parse_command_opts(parser, args)
File "C:\Dir\Python3\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 527, in _parse_command_opts
cmd_class = self.get_command_class(command)
File "C:\Dir\Python3\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 817, in get_command_class
__import__ (module_name)
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\JetBrains\PyCharm Community Edition 2016.2.3\helpers\pycharm\pycharm_commands\pycharm_test.py", line 4, in <module>
from setuptools.command import test
File "C:\Dir\Python3\lib\site-packages\setuptools\__init__.py", line 14, in <module>
from setuptools.extension import Extension
File "C:\Dir\Python3\lib\site-packages\setuptools\extension.py", line 10, in <module>
from .dist import _get_unpatched
File "C:\Dir\Python3\lib\site-packages\setuptools\dist.py", line 39, in <module>
_Distribution = _get_unpatched(_Distribution)
File "C:\Dir\Python3\lib\site-packages\setuptools\dist.py", line 35, in _get_unpatched
"distutils has already been patched by %r" % cls
AssertionError: distutils has already been patched by <class'py2exe.patch_distutils.patch_distutils.<locals>.Distribution'>

Does anyone know a workaround to this problem? I am working in Python3.4.1.

Thank you so much for helping!

Answer 1

Try importing setuptools before you import py2exe.

It worked for me.