`An error occurred: module 'importlib.metadata' has no attribute 'packages_distributions'`

[ReubenFrankel]

This is happening because importlib.metadata.packages_distributions was added in Python 3.10, but the current version check implementation allows this to be called for 3.8 and above:

python-api-core/google/api_core/_python_version_support.py

Lines 150 to 176 in c97b3a0

	# TODO(https://github.com/googleapis/python-api-core/issues/835): Remove once we
	# no longer support Python 3.7
	if sys.version_info < (3, 8):
	def _get_pypi_package_name(module_name): # pragma: NO COVER
	"""Determine the PyPI package name for a given module name."""
	return None
	else:
	from importlib import metadata
	def _get_pypi_package_name(module_name):
	"""Determine the PyPI package name for a given module name."""
	try:
	# Get the mapping of modules to distributions
	module_to_distributions = metadata.packages_distributions()
	# Check if the module is found in the mapping
	if module_name in module_to_distributions: # pragma: NO COVER
	# The value is a list of distribution names, take the first one
	return module_to_distributions[module_name][0]
	else:
	return None # Module not found in the mapping
	except Exception as e:
	print(f"An error occurred: {e}")
	return None

Introduced in this commit: d36e896

In our case, this is a problem purely because the error is printed rather than logged, as we are using applications designed around a communication spec that is particularly sensitive to unexpected stdout writes.

---

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Please run down the following list and make sure you've tried the usual "quick fixes":

• Search the issues already opened: https://github.com/googleapis/python-api-core/issues
• Search StackOverflow: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/google-cloud-platform+python

If you are still having issues, please be sure to include as much information as possible:

Environment details

• OS type and version: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS
• Python version: Python 3.9.21
• pip version: 24.3.1
• google-api-core version: 2.28.1

Steps to reproduce

1. Import google.api_core in Python REPL
2. Observed error printed to stdout

Code example

$ .meltano/extractors/tap-bigquery/venv/bin/python
Python 3.9.21 (main, Dec  3 2024, 17:50:13) 
[GCC 11.4.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
Ctrl click to launch VS Code Native REPL
>>> import google.api_core
An error occurred: module 'importlib.metadata' has no attribute 'packages_distributions'
/home/reuben/meltano/bigquery-test/.meltano/extractors/tap-bigquery/venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/google/api_core/_python_version_support.py:252: FutureWarning: You are using a Python version (3.9.21) past its end of life. Google will update google.api_core with critical bug fixes on a best-effort basis, but not with any other fixes or features. Please upgrade to the latest Python version, or at least Python 3.10, and then update google.api_core.
  warnings.warn(message, FutureWarning)
>>>

Stack trace

# example

Making sure to follow these steps will guarantee the quickest resolution possible.

Thanks!

[eecsmap]

Observed same issue on Windows python 3.9 with api-core 2.28.x

Error introduced in #832

At _python_version_support.py line 165

    from importlib import metadata

    def _get_pypi_package_name(module_name):
        """Determine the PyPI package name for a given module name."""
        try:
            # Get the mapping of modules to distributions
            module_to_distributions = metadata.packages_distributions()

packages_distributions does not exist in importlib.metadata in python 3.9.