_NamespacePath object has no attribute sort (38.5.1)

Using Python 3.6, pip 9.0.1 and 38.5.1 I get the following error:

$ bin/pip list
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "bin/pip", line 7, in <module>
    from pip import main
  File "/Users/wichert/.local/share/virtualenvs/curvetips.api-ihv708oq/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/__init__.py", line 26, in <module>
    from pip.utils import get_installed_distributions, get_prog
  File "/Users/wichert/.local/share/virtualenvs/curvetips.api-ihv708oq/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/utils/__init__.py", line 27, in <module>
    from pip._vendor import pkg_resources
  File "/Users/wichert/.local/share/virtualenvs/curvetips.api-ihv708oq/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3018, in <module>
    @_call_aside
  File "/Users/wichert/.local/share/virtualenvs/curvetips.api-ihv708oq/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3004, in _call_aside
    f(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/wichert/.local/share/virtualenvs/curvetips.api-ihv708oq/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3046, in _initialize_master_working_set
    dist.activate(replace=False)
  File "/Users/wichert/.local/share/virtualenvs/curvetips.api-ihv708oq/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2578, in activate
    declare_namespace(pkg)
  File "/Users/wichert/.local/share/virtualenvs/curvetips.api-ihv708oq/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2152, in declare_namespace
    _handle_ns(packageName, path_item)
  File "/Users/wichert/.local/share/virtualenvs/curvetips.api-ihv708oq/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2092, in _handle_ns
    _rebuild_mod_path(path, packageName, module)
  File "/Users/wichert/.local/share/virtualenvs/curvetips.api-ihv708oq/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2121, in _rebuild_mod_path
    orig_path.sort(key=position_in_sys_path)
AttributeError: '_NamespacePath' object has no attribute 'sort'

This is a virtualenv made yesterday using pipenv.

As requested in #885 the nspath data is:

$ for pth in $(ls lib/python3.6/site-packages/*-nspkg.pth); do echo $pth ; cat $pth ; done
lib/python3.6/site-packages/PasteDeploy-1.5.2-py2.6-nspkg.pth
import sys,types,os; p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('paste',)); ie = os.path.exists(os.path.join(p,'__init__.py')); m = not ie and sys.modules.setdefault('paste',types.ModuleType('paste')); mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]); (p not in mp) and mp.append(p)
lib/python3.6/site-packages/curvetips.logging-1.4.2-py3.6-nspkg.pth
import sys, types, os;has_mfs = sys.version_info > (3, 5);p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('curvetips',));importlib = has_mfs and __import__('importlib.util');has_mfs and __import__('importlib.machinery');m = has_mfs and sys.modules.setdefault('curvetips', importlib.util.module_from_spec(importlib.machinery.PathFinder.find_spec('curvetips', [os.path.dirname(p)])));m = m or sys.modules.setdefault('curvetips', types.ModuleType('curvetips'));mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]);(p not in mp) and mp.append(p)
lib/python3.6/site-packages/curvetips.model-1.0.3-py3.6-nspkg.pth
import sys, types, os;has_mfs = sys.version_info > (3, 5);p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('curvetips',));importlib = has_mfs and __import__('importlib.util');has_mfs and __import__('importlib.machinery');m = has_mfs and sys.modules.setdefault('curvetips', importlib.util.module_from_spec(importlib.machinery.PathFinder.find_spec('curvetips', [os.path.dirname(p)])));m = m or sys.modules.setdefault('curvetips', types.ModuleType('curvetips'));mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]);(p not in mp) and mp.append(p)
lib/python3.6/site-packages/curvetips.utils-1.1.0-py3.6-nspkg.pth
import sys, types, os;has_mfs = sys.version_info > (3, 5);p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('curvetips',));importlib = has_mfs and __import__('importlib.util');has_mfs and __import__('importlib.machinery');m = has_mfs and sys.modules.setdefault('curvetips', importlib.util.module_from_spec(importlib.machinery.PathFinder.find_spec('curvetips', [os.path.dirname(p)])));m = m or sys.modules.setdefault('curvetips', types.ModuleType('curvetips'));mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]);(p not in mp) and mp.append(p)
lib/python3.6/site-packages/google_auth-1.4.1-py3.6-nspkg.pth
import sys, types, os;has_mfs = sys.version_info > (3, 5);p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('google',));importlib = has_mfs and __import__('importlib.util');has_mfs and __import__('importlib.machinery');m = has_mfs and sys.modules.setdefault('google', importlib.util.module_from_spec(importlib.machinery.PathFinder.find_spec('google', [os.path.dirname(p)])));m = m or sys.modules.setdefault('google', types.ModuleType('google'));mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]);(p not in mp) and mp.append(p)
lib/python3.6/site-packages/repoze.lru-0.7-py3.6-nspkg.pth
import sys, types, os;has_mfs = sys.version_info > (3, 5);p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('repoze',));importlib = has_mfs and __import__('importlib.util');has_mfs and __import__('importlib.machinery');m = has_mfs and sys.modules.setdefault('repoze', importlib.util.module_from_spec(importlib.machinery.PathFinder.find_spec('repoze', [os.path.dirname(p)])));m = m or sys.modules.setdefault('repoze', types.ModuleType('repoze'));mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]);(p not in mp) and mp.append(p)
lib/python3.6/site-packages/zope.component-4.4.1-py3.4-nspkg.pth
import sys, types, os;has_mfs = sys.version_info > (3, 5);p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('zope',));importlib = has_mfs and __import__('importlib.util');has_mfs and __import__('importlib.machinery');m = has_mfs and sys.modules.setdefault('zope', importlib.util.module_from_spec(importlib.machinery.PathFinder.find_spec('zope', [os.path.dirname(p)])));m = m or sys.modules.setdefault('zope', types.ModuleType('zope'));mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]);(p not in mp) and mp.append(p)
lib/python3.6/site-packages/zope.deprecation-4.3.0-py3.6-nspkg.pth
import sys, types, os;has_mfs = sys.version_info > (3, 5);p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('zope',));importlib = has_mfs and __import__('importlib.util');has_mfs and __import__('importlib.machinery');m = has_mfs and sys.modules.setdefault('zope', importlib.util.module_from_spec(importlib.machinery.PathFinder.find_spec('zope', [os.path.dirname(p)])));m = m or sys.modules.setdefault('zope', types.ModuleType('zope'));mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]);(p not in mp) and mp.append(p)
lib/python3.6/site-packages/zope.event-4.3.0-py3.5-nspkg.pth
import sys, types, os;has_mfs = sys.version_info > (3, 5);p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('zope',));importlib = has_mfs and __import__('importlib.util');has_mfs and __import__('importlib.machinery');m = has_mfs and sys.modules.setdefault('zope', importlib.util.module_from_spec(importlib.machinery.PathFinder.find_spec('zope', [os.path.dirname(p)])));m = m or sys.modules.setdefault('zope', types.ModuleType('zope'));mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]);(p not in mp) and mp.append(p)
lib/python3.6/site-packages/zope.interface-4.4.3-py3.6-nspkg.pth
import sys, types, os;has_mfs = sys.version_info > (3, 5);p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('zope',));importlib = has_mfs and __import__('importlib.util');has_mfs and __import__('importlib.machinery');m = has_mfs and sys.modules.setdefault('zope', importlib.util.module_from_spec(importlib.machinery.PathFinder.find_spec('zope', [os.path.dirname(p)])));m = m or sys.modules.setdefault('zope', types.ModuleType('zope'));mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]);(p not in mp) and mp.append(p)
lib/python3.6/site-packages/zope.sqlalchemy-1.0-py3.6-nspkg.pth
import sys, types, os;has_mfs = sys.version_info > (3, 5);p = os.path.join(sys._getframe(1).f_locals['sitedir'], *('zope',));importlib = has_mfs and __import__('importlib.util');has_mfs and __import__('importlib.machinery');m = has_mfs and sys.modules.setdefault('zope', importlib.util.module_from_spec(importlib.machinery.PathFinder.find_spec('zope', [os.path.dirname(p)])));m = m or sys.modules.setdefault('zope', types.ModuleType('zope'));mp = (m or []) and m.__dict__.setdefault('__path__',[]);(p not in mp) and mp.append(p)

[haroldsheep]

The _path_ attribute should always be treated as an interable, not a list (the Python docs describe _path_ as an iterable). The line in pkg_resources/_init_.py that reads:

orig_path.sort(key=position_in_sys_path)

Should be:

orig_path = sorted(orig_path, key=position_in_sys_path)

As a general rule (if practical), in-place sorting should not be used.

[oberstet]

I can’t believe this is not a Prio 1 ticket, but actually closed! The fix still appear to be unshipped, and I am getting tired of applying the edit manually after some new py install;) please guys, could someone just merge that? for the fix, see: https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/1282#issuecomment-372422080