python3.12 ensurepip fails

[news703538@proathon.de]

Am 2026-02-07 18:44:36, schrieb Libor Ukropec via Cygwin:
> Hello,
> 
> I've installed (and then reinstalled) Python312 (3.12.12-1), venv, pip,
> setuptools, wheel all for python312.
> 
> Still when I execute `python3.12 -m ensurepip` I have this error:
> 
> ```bash
> $ python3.12 -m ensurepip
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "<frozen runpy>", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
>   File "<frozen runpy>", line 88, in _run_code
>   File "/usr/lib/python3.12/ensurepip/__main__.py", line 5, in <module>
>     sys.exit(ensurepip._main())
>              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>   File "/usr/lib/python3.12/ensurepip/__init__.py", line 284, in _main
>     return _bootstrap(
>            ^^^^^^^^^^^
>   File "/usr/lib/python3.12/ensurepip/__init__.py", line 176, in _bootstrap
>     whl = wheel_path.read_bytes()
>           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>   File "/usr/lib/python3.12/pathlib.py", line 1019, in read_bytes
>     with self.open(mode='rb') as f:
>          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>   File "/usr/lib/python3.12/pathlib.py", line 1013, in open
>     return io.open(self, mode, buffering, encoding, errors, newline)
>            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory:
> '/usr/lib/python3.12/ensurepip/_bundled/pip-25.0.1-py3-none-any.whl'
> ```
...
> I'm not asking for workaround(s), I'm asking if it is an error in cygwin or
> my setup. I hit this error during troubleshooting other error.
> 
> Regards,
> Libor

Hello,

I had exactly the same problem here and gave up recently. Looking again
into this I found the missing file in package python312-virtualenv via
"cygcheck -p pip-25.0.1-py3-none-any.whl".

After installing the package python312-virtualenv, the missing file is
not at the expected location. 

So with a new directory /usr/lib/python3.12/ensurepip/_bundled/ and a symbolic link
/usr/lib/python3.12/ensurepip/_bundled/pip-25.0.1-py3-none-any.whl -> /usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/pip-25.0.1-py3-none-any.whl
"python3.12 -m ensurepip" worked for me. 

I'm aware you are not asking for a workaround, so concerning your question I
guess this is a glitch in a cygwin package or maybe upstream.

Finally I am considering my cygwin transition from python3.9 to python3.12
because "python3.12 -m venv venv" also succeeds now.

Regards,
Harald