# \[Gramps-5.2.0-rc1\] ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘setuptools’

**URL:** <https://gramps.discourse.group/t/gramps-5-2-0-rc1-modulenotfounderror-no-module-named-setuptools/4853>\
**Category:** Beta Testing\
**Created:** [February 10, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/gramps-5-2-0-rc1-modulenotfounderror-no-module-named-setuptools/4853 "2024-02-10T12:34:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![comeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@comeng](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/comeng)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/gramps-5-2-0-rc1-modulenotfounderror-no-module-named-setuptools/4853/1 "2024-02-10T12:34:28Z")

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Decided to try a different install method rather than waiting for the .deb file followed instructions to install from tarball  
Get this error  
phil@OldestNuc:~/Downloads/gramps-5.2.0-rc1$ python3 setup.py build  
Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/home/phil/Downloads/gramps-5.2.0-rc1/setup.py”, line 35, in   
from setuptools import setup, Command  
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘setuptools’  
phil@OldestNuc:~/Downloads/gramps-5.2.0-rc1$  
Probably doing something stupid can someone put me straight  
Phil  
Python: 3.10.12 (main, Nov 20 2023, 15:14:05) [G…  
BSDDB: 6.2.9 (5, 3, 28)  
sqlite: 3.37.2 (2.6.0)  
LANG: en\_GB.UTF-8  
OS: Linux Ubuntu 22  
Distribution: 6.5.0-15-generic

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**Author:** ![Nick-Hall](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/nick-hall/32/95_2.png) [@Nick-Hall](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/Nick-Hall)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 2:40pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/gramps-5-2-0-rc1-modulenotfounderror-no-module-named-setuptools/4853/2 "2024-02-10T14:40:03Z")

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Try installing the packages:

python3-setuptools  
intltool

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**Author:** ![S.Mackay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@S.Mackay](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/S.Mackay)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 10:53pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/gramps-5-2-0-rc1-modulenotfounderror-no-module-named-setuptools/4853/3 "2024-02-11T22:53:36Z")

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For a number of years, some maintainers have been trying to phase out setup tools in python and gnome. They are pushing pip install instead of setup tools. Back in 2022, Gnome Runtime 41 for flatpaks even dropped setuptools completely before adding it back in later. It frustrated me at the time because until that got resolved, the flatpak had to be reverted back to Gnome Runtime 40. I posted an issue at the time trying to work around it [Current problem: had to switch to pip and resource\_path not being set · Issue #22 · gramps-project/flatpak · GitHub](https://github.com/gramps-project/flatpak/issues/22)

I would suggest a pip3 install command be given as an alternative to python3 install at the gramps-project/gramps github INSTALL text. More distros will probably start dropping setup tools, or not adding it back in when other packages drop it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![codefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@codefarmer](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/codefarmer)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 6:45pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/gramps-5-2-0-rc1-modulenotfounderror-no-module-named-setuptools/4853/6 "2025-06-24T18:45:49Z")

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While setting up a Gramps 6.0.x build on Ubuntu 24.04 in a WSL environment on Windows 11, I ran into problem described in the original thread, and didn’t see a resolution. What worked for me is to run this command to install setuptools:

```python
python3 -m pip install setuptools

```