AttributeError: module 'sipbuild.api' has no attribute 'prepare_metadata_for_build_wheel' for PyQt5 5.15.0

Question

A program I am trying to install requires the installation of PyQt5 5.15.0 , which gives me this error. The odd thing is that the installation works fine for the latest version of PyQt5 (5.15.2), but this program requires 5.15.0 specifically.

Command Output:

Collecting PyQt5==5.15.0
  Using cached PyQt5-5.15.0.tar.gz (3.3 MB)
  Installing build dependencies ... done
  Getting requirements to build wheel ... done
    Preparing wheel metadata ... error
    ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
     command: 'c:\users\mshal\appdata\local\programs\python\python39\python.exe' 'C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\site-packages\pip\_vendor\pep517\_in_process.py' prepare_metadata_for_build_wheel 'C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Local\Temp\tmp41s11ev6'
         cwd: C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-sfw90hvc\pyqt5_e2cc46859b554da7b84798abae5378ba
    Complete output (31 lines):
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\site-packages\pip\_vendor\pep517\_in_process.py", line 126, in prepare_metadata_for_build_wheel
        hook = backend.prepare_metadata_for_build_wheel
    AttributeError: module 'sipbuild.api' has no attribute 'prepare_metadata_for_build_wheel'

    During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\site-packages\pip\_vendor\pep517\_in_process.py", line 280, in <module>
        main()
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\site-packages\pip\_vendor\pep517\_in_process.py", line 263, in main
        json_out['return_val'] = hook(**hook_input['kwargs'])
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\site-packages\pip\_vendor\pep517\_in_process.py", line 130, in prepare_metadata_for_build_wheel
        return _get_wheel_metadata_from_wheel(backend, metadata_directory,
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\site-packages\pip\_vendor\pep517\_in_process.py", line 159, in _get_wheel_metadata_from_wheel
        whl_basename = backend.build_wheel(metadata_directory, config_settings)
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-build-env-nnx_yu09\overlay\Lib\site-packages\sipbuild\api.py", line 51, in build_wheel
        project = AbstractProject.bootstrap('pep517')
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-build-env-nnx_yu09\overlay\Lib\site-packages\sipbuild\abstract_project.py", line 83, in bootstrap
        project.setup(pyproject, tool, tool_description)
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-build-env-nnx_yu09\overlay\Lib\site-packages\sipbuild\project.py", line 479, in setup
        self.apply_user_defaults(tool)
      File "project.py", line 62, in apply_user_defaults
        super().apply_user_defaults(tool)
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-build-env-nnx_yu09\overlay\Lib\site-packages\pyqtbuild\project.py", line 79, in apply_user_defaults
        super().apply_user_defaults(tool)
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-build-env-nnx_yu09\overlay\Lib\site-packages\sipbuild\project.py", line 225, in apply_user_defaults
        self.builder.apply_user_defaults(tool)
      File "C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-build-env-nnx_yu09\overlay\Lib\site-packages\pyqtbuild\builder.py", line 66, in apply_user_defaults
        raise PyProjectOptionException('qmake',
    sipbuild.pyproject.PyProjectOptionException
    ----------------------------------------
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: 'c:\users\mshal\appdata\local\programs\python\python39\python.exe' 'C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\site-packages\pip\_vendor\pep517\_in_process.py' prepare_metadata_for_build_wheel 'C:\Users\mshal\AppData\Local\Temp\tmp41s11ev6' Check the logs for full command output.

I am on the latest version of pip. Any ideas on the root cause of this issue?

Answer 1

What helped me is upgrading pip from 20.2.3 to the latest one (in my case 21.1.1)

Answer 2

Running on arm with python3.6 (ubuntu18 on nvidia Xavier):

sudo apt install qt5-default

Answer 3

Checking the binaries that PyQt5 provides in pypi for version 5.15.0 I see that it does not provide the binaries for python3.9 in windows, so pip is trying to compile using the source code which is complicated and can generate several dependency problems (for example you must have Qt 5.15 installed, etc). So my recommendation is to install a more updated version of PyQt5, for example 5.15.2 since if it provides the binaries for python3.9 on windows, in addition to being a wrapper of an LTS version of Qt then it will have solved several bugs.

python -m pip install PyQt5==5.15.2

Another solution is to use python3.8 instead of python3.9 so that you can install pyqt5 5.15.0 from pypi without problems.

Answer 4

For MacOS users.

I am on Apple M1 silicon using Python 3.9.8. What worked for me was @Apaul's comment in the original question section. Install pyqt5-sip prior to pyqt5.

I also have an Intel Mac and on that machine, I do not need to do this.

Answer 5

For Mac/Homebrew users.

The answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/72046110/5327611 is leading in the right direction. On a Mac with QT5 installed via Homebrew the qmake binary just needs to be added to the path. This can be achieved through

export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/qt5/bin:$PATH"

(of course depending on where the homebrew files are installed)

Answer 6

Upgrading your pip enables you to install PyQt5. Personally, I had the same issue while installing PyQt6 and I upgraded my pip, and everything installed perfectly. I think both python and pip versions play an important role in installing PyQt so make sure you have later versions.

This is the command I used in Linux:

pip install --upgrade pip