impossible to install cryptography-dependent esptool module

[koko]

I am following the MicroPython "Getting started" installation guide under
https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/ ... intro.html
and reached the line

pip install esptool

under paragraph

1.4. Deploying the firmware

which I don't manage to cope with for several hours now :-(
Trying to install the

esptool

module directly, generates the warning:

error: externally-managed-environment
× This environment is externally managed

I created a virtual environment in my project folder via

python3 -m venv .venv

, and then tried

pip install esptool

, but the module installation fails with the error:

...
Building wheel for cryptography (pyproject.toml) ... error
error: subprocess-exited-with-error

× Building wheel for cryptography (pyproject.toml) did not run successfully.
│ exit code: 1
...
error: can't find Rust compiler
...

To update pip, run:

pip install --upgrade pip

and then retry package installation.
...

I tried without success the following suggestions from Internet:

python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install esptool
--> SAME PROBLEM

sudo apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev python3-dev
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/220 ... d-setup-py
--> SAME PROBLEM

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/661 ... uild-error

pip3 install setuptools_rust
--> SAME PROBLEM

export CRYPTOGRAPHY_DONT_BUILD_RUST=1
--> SAME PROBLEM

export RUSTFLAGS="-C lto=n"
--> SAME PROBLEM

pip install pyopenssl ndg-httpsclient pyasn1
--> SAME PROBLEM

sudo apt-get install libssl1.0
--> SAME PROBLEM

sudo apt install python3-cryptography
--> SAME PROBLEM

Editing pyvenv.cfg by adding in my .env:
CRYPTOGRAPHY_DONT_BUILD_RUST=1
--> SAME PROBLEM

pipx install esptool
--> SAME PROBLEM

pip install esptool==4.5.dev2
--> SAME PROBLEM

python -m pip install --upgrade setuptools
--> SAME PROBLEM

And I have no idea what else I should do. Hence, I wanted to ask if possibly I could get some help with regard to installing the cryptography module.
Thanks in advance
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

System:
Kernel: 6.1.0-13-686-pae [6.1.55-1] arch: i686 bits: 32 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-13-686-pae root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet
initrd=/antiX/initrd.gz splash
Desktop: Fluxbox v: 1.3.7 info: tint2 vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23.1_fluxbox_386
Libretto October 15 2023 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
Type: Kvm System: Acer product: Aspire 5920G v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
Chassis: Acer, Inc. type: 1 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Acer model: Chapala serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Acer v: 1.3804 date: 11/21/2007
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 13.3 Wh (100.0%) condition: 13.3/44.4 Wh (29.9%) volts: 12.1 min: 11.1
model: SANYO Chapala type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: full
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core2 Duo T7300 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Core2 Merom built: 2006-09
process: Intel 65nm family: 6 model-id: 0xF (15) stepping: 0xA (10) microcode: 0x95
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB
L2: 4 MiB desc: 1x4 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1187 high: 1396 min/max: 800/2001 boost: enabled scaling:
driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand cores: 1: 979 2: 1396 bogomips: 8000
Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities:
Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT disabled
Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT disabled
Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
Type: retbleed status: Not affected
Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not
affected
Type: srbds status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA G86M [GeForce 8600M GS] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI Aspire 5920G
driver: nouveau v: kernel non-free: series: 340.xx status: legacy (EOL) last: release: 340.108
kernel: 5.4 xorg: 1.20 arch: Tesla process: 40-80nm built: 2006-13 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
lanes: 16 ports: active: HDMI-A-1,LVDS-1 empty: VGA-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0425
class-ID: 0300 temp: 71.0 C
Device-2: Suyin Acer CrystalEye Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-2:2
chip-ID: 064e:a101 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
dri: nouveau gpu: nouveau display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1880 s-dpi: 97 s-size: 501x491mm (19.72x19.33") s-diag: 701mm (27.62")
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 pos: top model: Samsung S27D390 serial: <filter> built: 2014
res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 82 gamma: 1.2 size: 598x336mm (23.54x13.23") diag: 686mm (27")
ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
Monitor-2: LVDS-1 pos: primary,bottom model: Seiko Epson 0x3945 built: 2007 res: 1280x800
hz: 60 dpi: 98 gamma: 1.2 size: 331x207mm (13.03x8.15") diag: 390mm (15.4") ratio: 16:10 modes:
max: 1280x800 min: 640x350
API: OpenGL v: 3.3 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: NV86 direct-render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 82801H HD Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI Aspire 5920G driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:284b class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-13-686-pae status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.65 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network driver: iwl3945 v: in-tree:s modules: wl
pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:4222 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Broadcom NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
Aspire 5920G driver: tg3 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: N/A
bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:1693 class-ID: 0200
IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
bus-ID: 6-1.1:3 chip-ID: 0a12:0001 class-ID: e001
Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.0
sub-v: 22bb hci-v: 4.0 rev: 22bb
Info: acl-mtu: 310:10 sco-mtu: 64:8 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park
link-mode: peripheral accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio,
telephony
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 232.89 GiB used: 6.18 GiB (2.7%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital model: WD2500BEVS-22UST0 size: 232.89 GiB
block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 1.5 Gb/s type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1A01
scheme: MBR
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 58.59 GiB size: 57.37 GiB (97.92%) used: 5.96 GiB (10.4%) fs: ext4
dev: /dev/sda9 maj-min: 8:9
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 4.88 GiB used: 224.2 MiB (4.5%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda8
maj-min: 8:8
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 67.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 71.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 1813 libs: 882 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm pkgs: 0
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
Info:
Processes: 220 Uptime: 8h 59m wakeups: 3 Memory: 2.95 GiB used: 1.53 GiB (51.6%) Init: SysVinit
v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: BIOS (legacy, CSM, MBR)

[timkb4cq]

esptool is in the debian buster, bullseye & trixie repos but not in bookworm.
So I rebuilt the bullseye version for MX-23 and have uploaded it to the repository.
Mirrors will take a while to update so you can download the deb here and install it from the file manager.
https://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/pool/main/e/ ... 23_all.deb

[Stevo]

I don't use pip, but I remember threads about Debian disabling it for Bookworm, for security.

[koko]

Hi, thanks for your feedback and quick replies :-)
I downloaded the .deb package and installed it.

which esptool
/usr/bin/esptool

However, when running the next command from the MicroPython tutorial, i.e.

esptool --port /dev/ttyUSB0 erase_flash

, it fails with

A fatal error occurred: ESP8266 ROM does not support function erase_flash

I assume (not sure as I am not that advanced) that it is because of the older version: when starting the script, it prints

esptool.py v2.8

I managed to get it running by following the instructions how to install a package w/o pip @ this link:

https://www.hackersfriend.com/articles/ ... ip-command

, downloading the archive from

https://pypi.org/project/esptool/#files

, extracting it, commenting out the line for cryptography in setup.py, i.e.

... # "cryptography>=2.1.4" ...

, and finally install the module via

python setup.py install

Now I have 2 esptools:

which esptool
/usr/bin/esptool
vs.
which esptool.py (run from my virtual environment)
/home/koko/Desktop/ESP8266/Pargavelnik/.venv/bin/esptool.py

The one from the .deb package (esptool.py v2.8 ) is NOT able to flash the chip; the other (esptool.py v4.6.2) copes with the flashing.
However, esptool.py v4.6.2 script starts with some warning, i.e.

/home/koko/Desktop/ESP8266/Pargavelnik/.venv/bin/esptool.py:4: DeprecationWarning: pkg_resources is deprecated as an API. See https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/pkg_resources.html
__import__('pkg_resources').run_script('esptool==4.6.2', 'esptool.py')
esptool.py v4.6.2

Thus, I did manage to flash the ESP, but I do not know 1) what the lack of the cryptography module, and 2) the deprecation warning could cause in the future :-)

Thanks though for your quick response and useful info (I did not even know what buster, bullseye & trixie stand for)