mkvirtualenv says "no module named distutils.spawn" when making a venv for non-default python on Raspbian Buster

Question

Raspbian Buster has Python3.7 by default. I'm trying to make a Python3.6 virtualenv. I have a fresh install of Raspbian Buster with Desktop (not the version that is with "recommended software") and have already sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade'd.

1. I have run sudo apt-get install python3.6-dev to get Python 3.6.
2. I then run pip3 install virtualenvwrapper and added the appropriate lines to my .bashrc.
3. When I run mkvirtualenv --python=/usr/bin/python3.6 venv it gives the following error

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/pi/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv.py", line 24, in <module>
    import distutils.spawn
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils.spawn'

I have searched for answers already and nothing has helped. Here's what I've done (as far as I can remember).

• I tried adding export VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_PYTHON=/usr/bin/python3.6 to my .bashrc and it didn't help.
• I tried python3.6 -m pip install virtualenvwrapper and get another distutils error:

  Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/runpy.py", line 193, in _run_module_as_main
  "__main__", mod_spec)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/runpy.py", line 85, in _run_code
  exec(code, run_globals)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/__main__.py", line 16, in <module>
  from pip._internal import main as _main  # isort:skip # noqa
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/__init__.py", line 40, in <module>
  from pip._internal.cli.autocompletion import autocomplete
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/cli/autocompletion.py", line 8, in <module>
  from pip._internal.cli.main_parser import create_main_parser
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/cli/main_parser.py", line 8, in <module>
  from pip._internal.cli import cmdoptions
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py", line 17, in <module>
  from pip._internal.locations import USER_CACHE_DIR, src_prefix
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/locations.py", line 10, in <module>
  from distutils import sysconfig as distutils_sysconfig
  ImportError: cannot import name 'sysconfig'
  

• I can successfully do mkvirtualenv venv but of course that uses Python 3.7 which I don't want.
• I tried sudo apt-get install python3-distutils --reinstall but it only seems to install the Python3.7 version. There is no python3.6-distutils package.

Anyone know anything about how to get this working?

Answer 1

I had the same problem using python3.8 and virtualenv. I found that I did not install venv of the corresponding version of python. Then I install it with

sudo apt install python3.x-venv

The problem is solved. Have a try and good luck!

Answer 2

I had the same issue (ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils.spawn'). The problem was that PIP for python3 was not preinstalled on my system. The venv was created without problem after installing it manualy:

sudo apt install python3-pip