Unable to find pact-plugin-cli binary executable.

[MarkusH]

Have you read the Contributing Guidelines on issues?

• I have read the Contributing Guidelines on issues.

Prerequisites

• I'm using the latest version of pact-python.
• I have read the console error message carefully (if applicable).

Description

I've installed pact-python==3.4.0, pact-python-cli==2.6.0.1, and pact-python-ffi==0.5.4.0. The way that _find_executable is implemented seems a bit strange. Unless the PACT_USE_SYSTEM_BINS environment variable is set, the function seems to look for the executable in a folder bin relative to pact-python-cli/src/pact_cli/__init__.py. Which would be something like this:

__file__ = "~/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact_cli/__init__.py"
Path(__file__).parent == "~/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact_cli"
Path(__file__).parent.resolve() == "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact_cli"
Path(__file__).parent.resolve() / "bin" == "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact_cli/bin"

While the file is actually located inside /home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/bin.

Reproducible demo

No response

Steps to reproduce

I've only installed the library. pact-python-cli is pulled in through a dependency. When using the library from the repo's checkout /home/markus/projects/myproject it works fine. But when using a git worktree at /home/markus/projects/myproject-worktrees/branch-name-1 while reusing the same virtual environment, I get the error that the pact-plugin-cli executable cannot be found.

Expected behavior

I'd expect the function to correctly locate the executable.

Actual behavior

Cut down to the part that I can share.

  File "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/some_library/pact_testing.py", line 9, in <module>
    import pact.v2 as pact_v2
  File "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact/v2/__init__.py", line 4, in <module>
    from pact.v2.broker import Broker
  File "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact/match/__init__.py", line 338, in __import__
    return __builtins_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
  File "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact/generate/__init__.py", line 167, in __import__
    return __builtins_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
  File "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact/v2/broker.py", line 9, in <module>
    from pact_cli import _telemetry_env
  File "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact/match/__init__.py", line 338, in __import__
    return __builtins_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
  File "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact/generate/__init__.py", line 167, in __import__
    return __builtins_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
  File "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact_cli/__init__.py", line 217, in <module>
    PLUGIN_CLI_PATH = _find_executable("pact-plugin-cli")
  File "/home/markus/projects/myproject/.venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pact_cli/__init__.py", line 181, in _find_executable
    warnings.warn(
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
        f"Bundled {executable} binary not found; "
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    ...<2 lines>...
        stacklevel=2,
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    )
    ^
RuntimeWarning: Bundled pact-plugin-cli binary not found; using system installation instead.

Your environment

• Arch Linux
• No system-wide pact installed libraries
• Python 3.13

Self-service

• I'd be willing to fix this bug myself.

[YOU54F]

it is combined in the pact-cli, as a subcommand called plugin rather than being distributed as separate binaries for space-saving.

pact-python/pact-python-cli/hatch_build.py

Line 34 in a60aab4

PACT_RUST_CLI_URL = "https://github.com/pact-foundation/pact-cli/releases/download/v{version}/pact-{arch}-{os}{ext}"

It also bundles the pact-(ruby)-standalone

pact-python/pact-python-cli/hatch_build.py

Line 29 in a60aab4

PACT_CLI_URL = "https://github.com/pact-foundation/pact-standalone/releases/download/v{version}/pact-{version}-{os}-{machine}.{ext}"

which did contain the rust tools but they were removed as part of the migration to the consolidated rust based tooling, released in 2.6.2

pact-foundation/pact-standalone#214

So I would expect you to be able to use it via pact plugin rather than pact-plugin-cli

hope that helps

[JP-Ellis]

Thanks YOU54F for looking into the.

@MarkusH for some more context, we are migrating away from the Ruby-based Pact CLI (which required bundling Ruby as a whole), to a Rust-based Pact CLI.

In #1559, I started migrating away from the Ruby CLI to the Rust CLI, though evidently it wasn't fully backwards compatible. Both are present, so the error was unintentional (I will reserve the breaking change to a future version) and I will look into fixing this.

I will take a look into, but otherwise, as @YOU54F highlighted, you can use pact plugin directly rather than pact-plugin-cli.

[JP-Ellis]

Oh, follow up on re-reading your comment: the issue is the git worktree itself 🤔 Let me see if there's a more rigorous way to get this to work.

[pact-bot]

🤖 Great news! We've labeled this issue as SmartBear Supported and created a tracking ticket in PactFlow's Jira (PACT-7044). We'll keep work public and post updates here. Meanwhile, feel free to check out our docs. Thanks for your patience!