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