[BUG] Windows + Conda - Code compilation errors due to VS code / vcvarsall.bat -> interrogate registry swap

[mrmundt]

setuptools version

setuptools>=74

Python version

All tested versions; distributed with conda (3.9-3.12)

OS

Windows

Additional environment information

Issue only occurs on windows+conda; we do not see it on windows+pip

Description

With the recent upgrade of setuptools, one of our project's extension builds (specifically with conda) is now failing with the error:

**** Building APPSI ****
Building in 'C:\Users\RUNNER~1\AppData\Local\Temp\tmpyzw9baoa'
ERROR: DistutilsPlatformError: Microsoft Visual C++ 14.0 or greater is
required. Get it with "Microsoft C++ Build Tools":
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/visual-cpp-build-tools/

If we downgrade to setuptools<74 or we use pip instead of conda, we do not have this issue.

Expected behavior

We expect the compilation to run / build / not hit a "version required is not available" error.

How to Reproduce

There are a lot of steps to reproduce this because it happens significantly later in the CI process:
https://github.com/mrmundt/pyomo/actions/runs/11109169438/job/30863888315

The basic steps, though, are:

1. Install miniconda for appropriate windows version
2. Install dependencies through conda
3. Install pyomo - pyomo setup.py develop
4. Run download and build extensions:

        pyomo download-extensions 
        pyomo build-extensions # this is where the error occurs

Output

**** Building APPSI ****
Building in 'C:\Users\RUNNER~1\AppData\Local\Temp\tmpyzw9baoa'
ERROR: DistutilsPlatformError: Microsoft Visual C++ 14.0 or greater is
required. Get it with "Microsoft C++ Build Tools":
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/visual-cpp-build-tools/

[abravalheri]

Hi @mrmundt thank you very much for reporting this.

I am afraid we need to reduce a bit more this reproducer so that we can reach the root cause of the problem. Ideally the reproducer needs removing all the extra layers to to expose a very elementary version of the problem with the bare minimum components.

For example, pyomo build-extensions seems to be encapsulating somehow the steps that setuptools uses to build projects.

Would it be possible for you to create a more simplified reproducer that does not rely on pyomo and uses the standard interface recommend by setuptools (specifically python -m build) for building?

If you want to use the dependencies installed via conda for the test, you can create a virtual environment with build installed on it¹ and run python -m build --no-isolation.

Bonus points if you can create a very very basic mock extension code without the complexity of a real pyomo extension.

Other than that, please also note that in version 74 and 75 there were removals of deprecated functionality like in pypa/distutils#287, so if the setup you are using relies on them (or patches some of the removed modules) that might explain the change in behaviour.

Footnotes

1. Please install build and pyproject-hooks<1.2, as we have identified a well know incompatibility with the latest versions of pyproject-hooks but we are working on it. ↩