ImportError: cannot import name 'utils' from partially initialized module 'pymupdf' (most likely due to a circular import)

[apyrgio]

Describe the bug
cx-Freeze cannot import the latest iteration of PyMuPDF (1.24.11 or greater).

To Reproduce
Install PyMuPDF in a virtual environment, and use cx-Freeze to create a bundle. The resulting .exe file cannot import PyMuPDf:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\juhok\AppData\Local\pypoetry\Cache\virtualenvs\dangerzone-_8ncJGJf-py3.12\Lib\site-packages\cx_Freeze\initscripts\__startup__.py", line 140, in run
    module_init.run(f"__main__{name}")
  File "C:\Users\juhok\AppData\Local\pypoetry\Cache\virtualenvs\dangerzone-_8ncJGJf-py3.12\Lib\site-packages\cx_Freeze\initscripts\console.py", line 25, in run
    exec(code, main_globals)
  File "install\windows\dangerzone-cli.py", line 1, in <module>
  File "C:\GitHub\dangerzone\dangerzone\__init__.py", line 27, in <module>
    from .cli import cli_main as main
  File "C:\GitHub\dangerzone\dangerzone\cli.py", line 10, in <module>
    from .isolation_provider.container import Container
  File "C:\GitHub\dangerzone\dangerzone\isolation_provider\container.py", line 12, in <module>
    from .base import IsolationProvider, terminate_process_group
  File "C:\GitHub\dangerzone\dangerzone\isolation_provider\base.py", line 12, in <module>
    import fitz
  File "C:\Users\juhok\AppData\Local\pypoetry\Cache\virtualenvs\dangerzone-_8ncJGJf-py3.12\Lib\site-packages\fitz\__init__.py", line 2, in <module>
    from pymupdf import *
  File "C:\Users\juhok\AppData\Local\pypoetry\Cache\virtualenvs\dangerzone-_8ncJGJf-py3.12\Lib\site-packages\pymupdf\__init__.py", line 21706, in <module>
    from . import utils
ImportError: cannot import name 'utils' from partially initialized module 'pymupdf' (most likely due to a circular import) (C \GitHub\dangerzone\build\exe.win-amd64-3.12\lib\pymupdf\__init__.pyc)

(taken from a user issue in the Dangerzone repo freedomofpress/dangerzone#974)

Expected behavior
PyMuPDF should be imported.

Screenshots

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• Windows
• OS architecture (e.g. amd64): x86_64
• cx_Freeze version [e.g. 6.11]: 7.2.3
• Python version [e.g. 3.10]: 3.12

Additional context
A similar issue was previously reported here (#2497) but the error is different this time. I believe the reason is that PyMuPDF underwent some architectural changes in the meantime.

Also, it's worth noting that the bundle works, if I explicitly specify the missing module, e.g., with packages = [..., "pymupdf.utils"]. I guess we need to load this module in the PyMuPDF hook, but it's not super clean.

[marcelotduarte]

You can test with:
pip install --no-cache --pre git+https://github.com/marcelotduarte/cx_Freeze.git --force
If using uv:
uv pip install --no-cache --pre git+https://github.com/marcelotduarte/cx_Freeze.git --force-reinstall

[apyrgio]

Thanks a bunch for the quick fix! I'll give it a test once I hop in my Windows machine.

[apyrgio]

Hm, I'm getting the following error when I try to run cx-Freeze from Git:

distutils.errors.DistutilsOptionError: no base named 'Win32GUI' ('Win32GUI-cpython-312-win_amd64')

Maybe I'm missing something though. I'll try to figure it out and get back to you.

[marcelotduarte]

You can get the wheel from this link.

[apyrgio]

Ok, I just used that wheel, but now I'm seeing a different error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\apyrg\AppData\Local\pypoetry\Cache\virtualenvs\dangerzone-kK8ZKSCU-py3.12\Lib\site-packages\cx_Freeze\initscripts\__startup__.py", line 119, in  run
    module_init.run(f"__main__{name}")
  File "C:\Users\apyrg\AppData\Local\pypoetry\Cache\virtualenvs\dangerzone-kK8ZKSCU-py3.12\Lib\site-packages\cx_Freeze\initscripts\console.py", line 25, in run
    exec(code, main_globals)
  File "install\windows\dangerzone-cli.py", line 1, in <module>
    import dangerzone
  File "C:\Users\apyrg\playground\dangerzone\dangerzone\__init__.py", line 27, in <module>
    from .cli import cli_main as main
  File "C:\Users\apyrg\playground\dangerzone\dangerzone\cli.py", line 5, in <module>
    import click
  File "C:\Users\apyrg\AppData\Local\pypoetry\Cache\virtualenvs\dangerzone-kK8ZKSCU-py3.12\Lib\site-packages\click\__init__.py", line 7, in <module>
    from .core import Argument as Argument
  File "C:\Users\apyrg\AppData\Local\pypoetry\Cache\virtualenvs\dangerzone-kK8ZKSCU-py3.12\Lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 11, in <module>
    from gettext import gettext as _
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'gettext'

This errors happens even if I do the packages = [..., "pymupdf.utils"] hack. It looks like something is broken in this wheel, and now it can't package click.

[marcelotduarte]

Ya. Try with the most recent.

[marcelotduarte]

@apyrgio Can you test and give feedback?

[apyrgio]

Sorry for the delay, it's just that I haven't managed to switch to my Windows machine yet. I'll let you know the soonest, most likely on Monday.

[apyrgio]

Just managed to give it a whirl, and it works!

[marcelotduarte]

Release 7.2.5 is out!
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