ImportError: cannot import name _args_from_interpreter_flags

Question

For an application, I have to use Google Vision API. I am able to use from google.cloud import vision and do image analysis in my computer. But, when I deploy my app on developmental server I am getting error:

File "C:\MyApp\detect.py", line 26, in <module>
    from google.cloud import vision
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision\__init__.py", line 34, in <module>
    __version__ = get_distribution('google-cloud-vision').version
  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Cloud SDK\google-cloud-sdk\platform\google_appengine\lib\setuptools-0.6c11\pkg_resources.py", line 311, in get_distribution
    if isinstance(dist,Requirement): dist = get_provider(dist)
  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Cloud SDK\google-cloud-sdk\platform\google_appengine\lib\setuptools-0.6c11\pkg_resources.py", line 197, in get_provider
    return working_set.find(moduleOrReq) or require(str(moduleOrReq))[0]
  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Cloud SDK\google-cloud-sdk\platform\google_appengine\lib\setuptools-0.6c11\pkg_resources.py", line 666, in require
    needed = self.resolve(parse_requirements(requirements))
  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Cloud SDK\google-cloud-sdk\platform\google_appengine\lib\setuptools-0.6c11\pkg_resources.py", line 565, in resolve
    raise DistributionNotFound(req)  # XXX put more info here
DistributionNotFound: google-cloud-vision

When I create appengine_config.py file that contains:

from google.appengine.ext import vendor
vendor.add('C:\Anaconda2\Lib\site-packages')

I am getting error:

File "C:\Users\MyApp\detect.py", line 26, in <module>
    from google.cloud import vision
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision\__init__.py", line 36, in <module>
    from google.cloud.vision.client import Client
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision\client.py", line 23, in <module>
    from google.cloud.vision._gax import _GAPICVisionAPI
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision\_gax.py", line 17, in <module>
    from google.cloud.gapic.vision.v1 import image_annotator_client
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\gapic\vision\v1\image_annotator_client.py", line 31, in <module>
    from google.gax import api_callable
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\gax\__init__.py", line 36, in <module>
    import multiprocessing as mp
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\multiprocessing\__init__.py", line 65, in <module>
    from multiprocessing.util import SUBDEBUG, SUBWARNING
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\multiprocessing\util.py", line 41, in <module>
    from subprocess import _args_from_interpreter_flags
ImportError: cannot import name _args_from_interpreter_flags

When I tried the hack mentioned in the link below:
https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/google-cloud-python/issues/1893
https://github.com/googleapis/gax-python/issues/149
https://gist.github.com/nilleb/419122f2f6f1228650dd2dccbd01c5af

I am getting error:

File "C:\Users\MyApp\detect.py", line 11, in <module>
    class DummyProcessing(ModuleType):
NameError: name 'ModuleType' is not defined

Then I followed the instruction here: https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/standard/python/tools/using-libraries-python-27#copying_a_third-party_library
And used this command:

pip install -t lib google-cloud-vision==0.28.0

And updated appengine_config.py file:

from google.appengine.ext import vendor
vendor.add('lib')

I am getting error:

File "C:\Users\MyApp\detect.py", line 26, in <module>
    from google.cloud import vision
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision\__init__.py", line 36, in <module>
    from google.cloud.vision.client import Client
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision\client.py", line 23, in <module>
    from google.cloud.vision._gax import _GAPICVisionAPI
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision\_gax.py", line 17, in <module>
    from google.cloud.gapic.vision.v1 import image_annotator_client
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\gapic\vision\v1\image_annotator_client.py", line 31, in <module>
    from google.gax import api_callable
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\gax\__init__.py", line 36, in <module>
    import multiprocessing as mp
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\multiprocessing\__init__.py", line 65, in <module>
    from multiprocessing.util import SUBDEBUG, SUBWARNING
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\multiprocessing\util.py", line 41, in <module>
    from subprocess import _args_from_interpreter_flags
ImportError: cannot import name _args_from_interpreter_flags

Then I followed the instruction here: Using gcloud-python in GAE

And used this command:

pip install -t vendor google-cloud-vision==0.28.0

I copied appengine_config.py and darth.py files from here: https://github.com/dhermes/test-gcloud-on-gae/tree/8a850fb8b5676ca03e07c4f9dcfba5efb8c77b0a/application

I am getting error:

File "C:\Users\MyApp\detect.py", line 26, in <module>
    from google.cloud import vision
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision\__init__.py", line 36, in <module>
    from google.cloud.vision.client import Client
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision\client.py", line 23, in <module>
    from google.cloud.vision._gax import _GAPICVisionAPI
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision\_gax.py", line 17, in <module>
    from google.cloud.gapic.vision.v1 import image_annotator_client
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\gapic\vision\v1\image_annotator_client.py", line 31, in <module>
    from google.gax import api_callable
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\gax\__init__.py", line 36, in <module>
    import multiprocessing as mp
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\multiprocessing\__init__.py", line 65, in <module>
    from multiprocessing.util import SUBDEBUG, SUBWARNING
  File "C:\Anaconda2\lib\multiprocessing\util.py", line 41, in <module>
    from subprocess import _args_from_interpreter_flags
ImportError: cannot import name _args_from_interpreter_flags

I don’t know what to do next. I am completely stuck right now.

Answer 1

The traceback indicates that the library is installed in your local python system (C:\Anaconda2\lib\site-packages\google\cloud\vision) not in the app itself as it should be for a standard env GAE app.

From Google Cloud Vision API Client Library for Python:

App Engine

Because the Python client libraries are not installed in the App Engine Python runtime environment, they must be vendored into your application just like third-party libraries.

From Copying a third-party library:

To use a third-party library that is not on the list of built-in libraries bundled with the runtime:

• Create a directory to store your third-party libraries, such as lib/.

  mkdir lib
  

• Use pip (version 6 or later) with the -t <directory> flag to copy the libraries into the folder you created in the previous step. For example:

  pip install -t lib/ <library_name>
  

  ...

Follow the entire vendoring procedure and re-try.

But from the comment on issue 149 you referenced you might have to wait for that issue to be resolved:

@nilleb grpc isn't yet supported on App Engine standard.