OpenEdx image build fails with setuptools >= 81.0.0 (pkg_resources removed)

[cmersinli]

Description

OpenEdx Docker image build fails during uv pip install -r base.txt because loremipsum==1.0.5 (a transitive dependency via ora2) cannot be built.

Root cause: setuptools 81.0.0 (released Feb 6, 2026) removed the pkg_resources module. When uv builds loremipsum in an isolated environment, it installs the latest setuptools (now >= 81), which no longer includes pkg_resources. The loremipsum package imports pkg_resources at build time in its setup.py but doesn't declare setuptools as a build dependency.

Error

[python-requirements 3/9] RUN uv pip install -r base.txt -r assets.txt

× Failed to build `loremipsum==1.0.5`
├─▶ The build backend returned an error
╰─▶ Call to `setuptools.build_meta:__legacy__.build_wheel` failed

  File ".../loremipsum/generator.py", line 8, in <module>
    from pkg_resources import resource_string
  ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pkg_resources'

Environment

• Tutor: 21.0.0 (Ulmo)
• uv: 0.9.18 (from Dockerfile template)
• edx-platform: release/ulmo.1
• setuptools in build isolation: >= 81.0.0 (latest from PyPI)

Impact

This affects all Tutor 21.x OpenEdx image builds starting Feb 6, 2026 when setuptools 81.0.0 was released. Any build without a Docker layer cache for the base requirements step will fail.

Workaround

Disable uv build isolation for loremipsum using a Tutor plugin with openedx-dockerfile-minimal patch:

from tutor import hooks

hooks.Filters.ENV_PATCHES.add_item((
    "openedx-dockerfile-minimal",
    """
# Fix: loremipsum 1.0.5 needs setuptools (pkg_resources) at build time
# but doesn't declare it. Disable uv build isolation for this package.
RUN printf '[pip]\\nno-build-isolation-package = ["loremipsum"]\\n' > /etc/uv.toml
ENV UV_CONFIG_FILE=/etc/uv.toml
"""
))

Suggested fix

Consider one of:

1. Add no-build-isolation-package = ["loremipsum"] to the Dockerfile template's uv config
2. Pin setuptools<81 in the build isolation environment
3. Coordinate with edx-ora2 to replace the unmaintained loremipsum dependency

[ahmed-arb]

Fixed in openedx/openedx-platform#37991. We can either cherry-pick this in tutor or wait for ulmo.2.

In the meantime, you can work around this by building with regular pip: tutor images build openedx -a "PIP_COMMAND=pip"

[fghaas]

Is it correct to assume that this issue is fixed by #1348 and the 21.0.1 release?