[AMD] Fix aiter import failure in ROCm Docker images

[vvagaytsev]

Motivation

This should fix #22279.

Problem

The v0.5.10-rocm*-mi35x Docker images fail on startup with error (when SGLANG_USE_AITER=1):

ImportError: cannot import name 'dynamic_per_tensor_quant' from 'aiter' (unknown location)

Both rocm700 and rocm720 images are affected in 0.5.10, because starting from #19203 (it was merged after 0.5.9 release) the images use the same rocm.Dockerfile.

Root Cause

Commit 2e76824 (see #20195) changed aiter installation from python setup.py develop to python setup.py build_ext --inplace + pip install -e ..

The old setup.py develop used the egg-link mechanism, which added /sgl-workspace/aiter directly to sys.path via a .pth file. Modern pip install -e . (strict editable mode) instead registers a custom import finder appended to the end of sys.meta_path.

Since the image's WORKDIR is /sgl-workspace, the default PathFinder (which runs before the editable finder) discovers /sgl-workspace/aiter/ - the git repo root directory - via cwd ('' in sys.path). Because the repo root has no __init__.py, Python resolves it as a namespace package and stops searching. The editable finder, which has the correct mapping (aiter → /sgl-workspace/aiter/aiter), is never consulted.

The result: aiter imports as an empty namespace package (__file__=None, loader=None), and none of the actual package contents (including dynamic_per_tensor_quant) are available.

Modifications

Use pip install --config-settings editable_mode=compat -e . instead of pip install -e .. Compat editable mode writes a simple .pth path entry (/sgl-workspace/aiter) into site-packages, which PathFinder processes before falling back to cwd. This makes PathFinder find /sgl-workspace/aiter/aiter/__init__.py correctly — the same reliable mechanism that setup.py develop used previously.

Accuracy Tests

Speed Tests and Profiling

Checklist

• Format your code according to the Format code with pre-commit.
• Add unit tests according to the Run and add unit tests.
• Update documentation according to Write documentations.
• Provide accuracy and speed benchmark results according to Test the accuracy and Benchmark the speed.
• Follow the SGLang code style guidance.

Review and Merge Process

1. Ping Merge Oncalls to start the process. See the PR Merge Process.
2. Get approvals from CODEOWNERS and other reviewers.
3. Trigger CI tests with comments or contact authorized users to do so.
   • Common commands include /tag-and-rerun-ci, /tag-run-ci-label, /rerun-failed-ci
4. After green CI and required approvals, ask Merge Oncalls or people with Write permission to merge the PR.

[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request updates the pip install commands in docker/rocm.Dockerfile to use --config-settings editable_mode=compat for editable installations. The review comments highlight that the sh -c wrappers are redundant and potentially unsafe due to unquoted variable expansion, and suggest that the manual PYTHONPATH export may no longer be necessary. However, as these comments lack specific code suggestions to address the identified risks, I have no further feedback to provide.

[vvagaytsev]

/tag-and-rerun-ci