How to Fix “Error: Invalid Command ‘bdist_wheel'” in Python?

Fix: IndexError: Single Positional Indexer is Out-of-Bounds

Python’s simplicity of installation and use is one of its key benefits. But recently, a few Python developers have started experiencing an error message that reads, “error: invalid command ‘bdist_wheel'”. The goal of this post is to resolve this issue.

One of the language’s core features is using the wheel package to produce and distribute Python packages quickly. When running the setup.py file, we frequently encounter the “error: invalid command bdist wheel” and become concerned about what this means and how to fix it. This post will look at the root of the problem and simple solutions to it.

We’ll first examine in detail what the wheel package is and how the bdist wheel command works for us before we solve the puzzle of the invalid command bdist_wheel.

So let’s get right to the article and start reading.

 

 

What is a Wheel in Python?

A pre-built binary package format for Python modules and libraries is called “python wheels“. They offer a straightforward, single-file format that can be downloaded and installed without compiling the package from source code, making installing and maintaining Python programs more straightforward. They were created to replace the outdated egg format and offer several advantages over eggs and other package formats, including more straightforward installation and significant support for versioning and dependencies.

The new standard for Python distribution is wheels, which is meant to take the role of eggs. Support is available for setuptools >= 0.8 and pip >= 1.4.

One of the main benefits of using wheels is that they enable installing and utilizing Python modules without requiring a build procedure. This implies that users don’t need to develop a wheel package from scratch or install any additional dependencies; they can download and install it using the pip command. This can significantly speed up the installation process for complicated or large Python packages.

 

 

What is bdist_wheel in Python?

A built distribution, also known as a bdist, is a little bit more complicated since it pre-interprets or “builds” the package before cutting out the setup.py build step required when using a sdist.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that bdist is frequently taken to mean binary distribution. However, binary distributions are a subset of bdists, not all bdists fall under this classification. There are other bdist file types; however, on a high level, Python Eggs and Python Wheels have replaced one another.

 

 

Reasons for the “Invalid Command ‘bdist_wheel'” Error

Following are some reasons why we encounter the “error: invalid command ‘bdist_wheel'” error in Python.

  1. When Setuptools is not installed or not upgraded.
  2. When we try to build a wheel(.whl) without installing the wheel package.
  3. When the pip command needs to be upgraded.
  4. Missing of setup_requires in setup.py.

 

For example, if we give the command to create a wheel in the above mentioned cases, we will have an error message:

 

Code

Python setup.py bdist_wheel

 

Output

 

 

How to Fix “Error: Invalid Command ‘Bdist_wheel'” in Python?

Following are the steps to get rid of the error: invalid command ‘bdist_wheel’in Python:

 

Step 1: Install or Upgrade Setuptools

Setuptools is a group of additions to the Python distutils that make it simpler for programmers to create and distribute Python packages, particularly those that depend on other packages. Users of setuptools view the packages they create and distribute as being typical distutils-based Python packages.

To build a Python wheel, you must install setuptools, or if you already installed it, you must upgrade it. Following is the command to install setuptools:

 

Code

pip install setuptools

 

Output

 

 

Step 2: Install the Wheel Package to Build a Wheel file

It is a prerequisite to building a wheel file to have to install the wheel package; otherwise, it will generate an error of invalid command bdist_wheel. To install the wheel package, you have to enter the following command:

 

Code

pip install wheel

 

Output

 

If you could not install the wheel successfully or having a problem due to outdated pip or an old Python version, then you can install it manually by following these steps:

  1. Click here to download the wheel package from PyPI.
  2. Under the built distribution section, click the .whl file to start the download.
  3. Open command prompt(cmd).
  4. Move to the .whl file location.
  5. Enter this command:
pip install filename.whl

 

 

Step 3: Upgrade PIP

As you can see in the above-mentioned output when we installed the wheel package Python gave the notice to update the pip command to work correctly with Python. So you have to enter the following command to upgrade the pip command:

 

Code

python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip

 

Output

 

 

Step 4: Missing Setup_Requires Statement in Setup.py

If you are using a previous version of Python, adding the setup_requires at the end of the setup.py file is better. Setup_requires is a keyword that should be used to specify what a project minimally needs to run correctly.

After these four steps, you are ready to build a wheel file. Now, let’s see a simple example of building your wheel file. To build a wheel file successfully, follow these actions:

  1. Keep all the packages (folders or directories containing the modules), or modules (Python scripts), in the parent directory. You can give the root directory any name you like, usually anything associated with a project. In this example, we gave the name of mypackage to this folder.
  2. Create an empty .py file with the name __init__.py and place it in each package directory and sub-package / sub-directories, if possible. It doesn’t need to remain in the root directory. It is beneficial but not necessary, so keep that in mind.
  3. Setup.py should be created and put in the root directory. The name of the distribution, the version number, and a list of package names should be the absolute minimum content of this script. The file structure to build the wheel file is:

 

Below is a sample of Setup.py

import setuptools


# Package setup

setuptools.setup(

name='mypkg',

version="1.0.0",

author="Zeshan",

author_email="[email protected]",

description="This is my wheel",

packages=setuptools.find_packages(),

setup_requires=['wheel']
)

 

As you create setup.py, then you can enter this command to build the wheel file:

 

Code

python setup.py bdist_wheel

 

Output

running bdist_wheel
running build
C:\Users\expert\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\site-packages\setuptools\command\install.py:34: SetuptoolsDeprecationWarning: setup.py install is deprecated. Use build and pip and other standards-based tools.
warnings.warn(
installing to build\bdist.win-amd64\wheel
running install
running install_egg_info
running egg_info
writing mypkg.egg-info\PKG-INFO
writing dependency_links to mypkg.egg-info\dependency_links.txt
writing top-level names to mypkg.egg-info\top_level.txt
reading manifest file 'mypkg.egg-info\SOURCES.txt'
writing manifest file 'mypkg.egg-info\SOURCES.txt'
Copying mypkg.egg-info to build\bdist.win-amd64\wheel\.\mypkg-1.0.0-py3.10.egg-info
running install_scripts
creating build\bdist.win-amd64\wheel\mypkg-1.0.0.dist-info\WHEEL
creating 'dist\mypkg-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl' and adding 'build\bdist.win-amd64\wheel' to it
adding 'mypkg-1.0.0.dist-info/METADATA'
adding 'mypkg-1.0.0.dist-info/WHEEL'
adding 'mypkg-1.0.0.dist-info/top_level.txt'
adding 'mypkg-1.0.0.dist-info/RECORD'
removing build\bdist.win-amd64\wheel

 

As you got all these messages, it means the wheel file is created successfully, and you can check the folder where you store setup.py; now its looks like this:

 

 

Conclusion

Finally, after reading this material, you reach a position where you can rapidly remove the “invalid command bdist_wheel” error. In this article, we addressed every cause and provided you with the best solutions. Hence, in this article, we gave you all the commands and simple examples to assist you in fixing this error.

When the environment does not have the wheel package installed, the Python error “error: invalid command ‘bdist wheel'” occurs. Install the prerequisites to fix the issue. The “invalid command ‘bdist wheel'” error can be fixed by installing the wheel and setuptools package or updating it to the most recent version, then using the Python setup.py bdist wheel command.

If you find this article useful, Don’t forget to share it with your fellow programmers and let us know in the comments below⬇️ which command you used to resolve the “Invalid command bdist wheel” error.

Coding is fun; keep coding!

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