ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pkg_resources' with setuptools >=80 (Python 3.12)

[Gurkiratcodemaster]

Environment

• OS: Ubuntu 22.04 (also reproduced on Windows 11)
• Python version: 3.12.3
• Atarashi version: 0.0.11
• Installed via: pip install atarashi
• setuptools version installed automatically: 82.0.0

---

Issue Description

After installing Atarashi using:

pip install atarashi

Running:

atarashi -h

results in:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pkg_resources'

Traceback:

from pkg_resources import resource_filename
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pkg_resources'

---

Error with setuptools 82.0.0

The following screenshot shows the failure when using the automatically installed setuptools (82.0.0):

---

Working After Downgrading setuptools

After downgrading setuptools:

pip install setuptools==69.5.1 --force-reinstall

Atarashi runs successfully.

Screenshot of successful execution:

---

Investigation

The project declares:

setuptools (>=80.9.0,<81.0.0)

However, in Python 3.12 environments with setuptools >=80,
pkg_resources does not appear to be reliably available.

Atarashi imports:

from pkg_resources import resource_filename

This import fails even though setuptools is installed.

Downgrading setuptools to 69.5.1 restores expected behavior.

---

Root Cause (Likely)

pkg_resources is considered legacy and is being phased out in modern packaging workflows.

With newer setuptools versions (>=80), its availability appears inconsistent in Python 3.12 environments.

Since Atarashi requires Python >=3.10, it could safely use:

importlib.resources

which is part of the Python standard library and does not require setuptools at runtime.

---

Suggested Fix

One of the following:

1. Replace usage of pkg_resources with importlib.resources
   (recommended modern solution)

OR

2. Adjust setuptools dependency constraints to a version range
   that reliably includes pkg_resources

---

Additional Notes

• Reproducible on multiple machines
• Reproducible on both Ubuntu and Windows
• Appears to be a runtime compatibility issue rather than a local environment problem

Happy to test any proposed fixes or help with a PR.

[Kasturijadhav14]

Hi, I have submitted a PR that fixes this issue.
The fix replaces pkg_resources with importlib_resources
in evaluator.py which is the same approach already used
in atarashii.py.

PR: #119

[Kaushl2208]

Hey @Gurkiratcodemaster , The version that you are trying to install through pip is pretty old. We are currently looking into if we have enough changes that we can do a stable release. :)

[Kasturijadhav14]

Hi, I noticed the pip version is outdated and the
pkg_resources issue exists in the current release.

I tested this on Python 3.13 with setuptools 82.0.1
and confirmed the bug. I would like to submit a fix
for evaluator.py as a standalone PR while you work
on the new release. Would that be helpful?