cffi fails to build, setuptools issue

[CluckyMedia]

cffi, (cryptography package dependency), has issues, specifically with setuptools. I have not changed my ndk or sdk versions from when this was building successfully a week ago, please see some buildozer setup and output below:

requirements=python3==3.11.9,kivy==2.3.1,kivy_garden.mapview,android,requests,httpx,geopy,geohash2,pycryptodome,cryptography,urllib3,certifi,charset-normalizer,cachetools,Cython<=3,pyjnius@git+https://github.com/kivy/pyjnius.git,kivmob@https://github.com/MichaelStott/KivMob/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

android.api = 36

android.ndk = 28

android.ndk_api = 24

android.enable_androidx = True

[INFO]: Building cffi for arm64-v8a
[INFO]: cffi apparently isn't already in site-packages
[INFO]: Building compiled components in cffi
[INFO]: -> directory context /home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/cffi/arm64-v8a__ndk_target_24/cffi
stty: 'standard input': Inappropriate ioctl for device
[DEBUG]: -> running python3 setup.py clean --all
[DEBUG]: /home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/cffi/arm64-v8a__ndk_target_24/cffi/setup.py:67: DeprecationWarning: The distutils package is deprecated and slated for removal in Python 3.12. Use setuptools or check PEP 632 for potential alternatives
[DEBUG]: from distutils.core import Distribution
[DEBUG]: /home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/cffi/arm64-v8a__ndk_target_24/cffi/setup.py:68: DeprecationWarning: The distutils.sysconfig module is deprecated, use sysconfig instead
[DEBUG]: from distutils.sysconfig import get_config_vars
[DEBUG]: Traceback (most recent call last):
[DEBUG]: File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/cffi/arm64-v8a__ndk_target_24/cffi/setup.py", line 157, in
[DEBUG]: from setuptools import setup, Distribution, Extension
[DEBUG]: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'setuptools'
Exception in thread background thread for pid 51920:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib/python3.11/threading.py", line 1045, in _bootstrap_inner
self.run()
File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib/python3.11/threading.py", line 982, in run
self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sh.py", line 1642, in wrap
fn(*rgs, **kwargs)
File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sh.py", line 2647, in background_thread
handle_exit_code(exit_code)
File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sh.py", line 2338, in fn
return self.command.handle_command_exit_code(exit_code)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sh.py", line 823, in handle_command_exit_code
raise exc
sh.ErrorReturnCode_1:

RAN: /home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/hostpython3/desktop/hostpython3/native-build/python3 setup.py clean --all

STDOUT:
/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/cffi/arm64-v8a__ndk_target_24/cffi/setup.py:67: DeprecationWarning: The distutils package is deprecated and slated for removal in Python 3.12. Use setuptools or check PEP 632 for potential alternatives
from distutils.core import Distribution
/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/cffi/arm64-v8a__ndk_target_24/cffi/setup.py:68: DeprecationWarning: The distutils.sysconfig module is deprecated, use sysconfig instead
from distutils.sysconfig import get_config_vars
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/cffi/arm64-v8a__ndk_target_24/cffi/setup.py", line 157, in
from setuptools import setup, Distribution, Extension
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'setuptools'

STDERR:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
File "", line 88, in _run_code
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android/pythonforandroid/toolchain.py", line 1246, in
main()
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android/pythonforandroid/entrypoints.py", line 18, in main
ToolchainCL()
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android/pythonforandroid/toolchain.py", line 677, in init
getattr(self, command)(args)
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android/pythonforandroid/toolchain.py", line 104, in wrapper_func
build_dist_from_args(ctx, dist, args)
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android/pythonforandroid/toolchain.py", line 163, in build_dist_from_args
build_recipes(build_order, python_modules, ctx,
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android/pythonforandroid/build.py", line 504, in build_recipes
recipe.build_arch(arch)
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android/pythonforandroid/recipe.py", line 1102, in build_arch
self.build_compiled_components(arch)
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android/pythonforandroid/recipe.py", line 1112, in build_compiled_components
shprint(hostpython, 'setup.py', 'clean', '--all', _env=env)
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android/pythonforandroid/logger.py", line 167, in shprint
for line in output:
File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sh.py", line 879, in next
self.wait()
File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sh.py", line 796, in wait
self.handle_command_exit_code(exit_code)
File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/sh.py", line 823, in handle_command_exit_code
raise exc
sh.ErrorReturnCode_1:

RAN: /home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/hostpython3/desktop/hostpython3/native-build/python3 setup.py clean --all

STDOUT:
/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/cffi/arm64-v8a__ndk_target_24/cffi/setup.py:67: DeprecationWarning: The distutils package is deprecated and slated for removal in Python 3.12. Use setuptools or check PEP 632 for potential alternatives
from distutils.core import Distribution
/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/cffi/arm64-v8a__ndk_target_24/cffi/setup.py:68: DeprecationWarning: The distutils.sysconfig module is deprecated, use sysconfig instead
from distutils.sysconfig import get_config_vars
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/runner/work/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a/build/other_builds/cffi/arm64-v8a__ndk_target_24/cffi/setup.py", line 157, in
from setuptools import setup, Distribution, Extension
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'setuptools'

STDERR:

Command failed: ['/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/bin/python3', '-m', 'pythonforandroid.toolchain', 'create', '--dist_name=app', '--bootstrap=sdl2', '--requirements=python3==3.11.9,kivy==2.3.1,kivy_garden.mapview,android,requests,httpx,geopy,geohash2,pycryptodome,cryptography,urllib3,certifi,charset-normalizer,cachetools,Cython<=3,pyjnius@git+https://github.com/kivy/pyjnius.git,kivmob@https://github.com/MichaelStott/KivMob/archive/refs/heads/master.zip', '--arch=arm64-v8a', '--copy-libs', '--color=always', '--storage-dir=/home/runner/work/app/app/.buildozer/android/platform/build-arm64-v8a', '--ndk-api=24', '--ignore-setup-py', '--debug']

[emendir]

Same problem here.

Temporary Workaround

This temporary workaround worked for me to get my build working again: Pin pythonforandroid to an older version in the buildozer.spec file:

# (str) python-for-android specific commit to use, defaults to HEAD, must be within p4a.branch
#p4a.commit = HEAD
p4a.commit = 5aa97321ebf7339edf04e707beccbf94a284f4c9

[CluckyMedia]

Same problem here.

Temporary Workaround

This temporary workaround worked for me to get my build working again: Pin pythonforandroid to an older version in the buildozer.spec file:

# (str) python-for-android specific commit to use, defaults to HEAD, must be within p4a.branch
#p4a.commit = HEAD
p4a.commit = 5aa97321ebf7339edf04e707beccbf94a284f4c9

@emendir thanks yeah i got around it another way, but there persists other issues with this library which is relied upon with not only cryptography but also pycryptodome and pycryptodomex. The changes made bread lots of libs and should be fixed asap. Thanks. @kuzeyron

[CluckyMedia]

@emendir as a workaround I had to add to my runner workflow file the following, but other libs rely on cffi no longer work like they did:
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4

  - name: Build APK
    uses: digreatbrian/buildozer-action@v2
    with:
      python-version: 3.11.9
      buildozer-cmd: |
        bash -euc '
        export CFFI_NOOPT=1
        buildozer -v android debug || true
        # Locate hostpython3 binary
        HPY=$(find .buildozer -type f -path "*hostpython3/*/native-build/python3" | head -n1)
        echo "Hostpython found at: $HPY"
        if [[ -n "$HPY" ]]; then
          "$HPY" -m ensurepip
          "$HPY" -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
        else
          echo "❌ ERROR: Could not find hostpython3 to patch!"
          exit 1
        fi
        
        # Resume clean build
        buildozer android clean
        buildozer -v android debug
        '

[T-Dynamos]

Fixed via #3233.