Backend subprocess fails during get_requires_for_build_sdist execution

Backend
1

I’m trying to publish my Python package to PyPI using GitHub Actions but keep running into an issue. I set up the workflow following the standard packaging tutorial and used setup.py for configuration.

When the build process runs, I get this error:

running egg_info
creating src/mypackage.egg-info
writing src/mypackage.egg-info/PKG-INFO
writing dependency_links to src/mypackage.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
writing top-level names to src/mypackage.egg-info/top_level.txt
writing manifest file 'src/mypackage.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
error: package directory 'src/mypackage' does not exist
* Creating venv isolated environment...
* Installing packages in isolated environment... (requests>=2.25.1, setuptools>=42)
* Getting dependencies for sdist...

ERROR Backend subprocess exited when trying to invoke get_requires_for_build_sdist
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

What exactly does this backend subprocess error mean? Has anyone encountered this before and found a way to fix it? Any help would be great.

2

hmm, thas a strange error! it says the package directory doesnt exist, but ur using setup.py. are u mixing src layout with flat layout by accident? what does ur project structure look like?

3

You’re encountering the backend subprocess error because the build system cannot find your package structure when creating the sdist. The build process is looking for src/mypackage, but it seems that directory is missing. This typically indicates a mismatch between your setup.py configuration and your actual project layout. Verify that the package_dir parameter in setup.py accurately points to the corresponding source structure. If using a src layout, ensure the src directory contains your package folder named exactly as specified in your setup config. I faced a similar issue when my setup.py referenced a package name that didn’t align with my directory structure, and correcting the package_dir mapping resolved the problem immediately.

4

check ur setup.py - make sure the packages= param points to the actual dirs. missing or wrong paths cause this error all the time. also double-check that you’ve got init.py files where they need to be.