Error: could not find paymentrequest_pb2.py. Create it with 'contrib/generate_pa

[Geremia]

I built/packaged Electrum 4.5.8, and when I trying running it, I get this:

Code:

Error: could not find paymentrequest_pb2.py. Create it with 'contrib/generate_payreqpb2.sh'

How do I fix this? I tried running

Code:

generate_payreqpb2.sh

, but I don’t know if it created any files or put them in the right place. Can someone please explain this?

[Geremia]

The issue was that I had protobuf 3.19.6 installed locally (with pip) and protobuf 29.3 installed globally. I removed the local, pip-installed version, and Electrum now works.

[NotATether]

This is why you should use Electrum in a .venv, or at least make sure you're not installing other package that conflict with Electrum's dependencies. You can prevent a lot of other weird errors from happening that way.

[ABCbits]

This is why you should use Electrum in a .venv, or at least make sure you're not installing other package that conflict with Electrum's dependencies. You can prevent a lot of other weird errors from happening that way.

IMO pipx is better choice since OP wants to run program, rather than software development.

You can globally install an application by running

Code:

pipx install PACKAGE

This automatically creates a virtual environment, installs the package, and adds the package's associated applications (entry points) to a location on your PATH. For example, pipx install pycowsay makes the pycowsay command available globally, but sandboxes the pycowsay package in its own virtual environment. pipx never needs to run as sudo to do this.

For OP's usage, this command should work (tested on my Debian 12 VM).

Code:

$ sudo apt install pipx
$ pipx ensurepath
$ pipx install git+https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum.git@4.5.8
$ which electrum
/home/user/.local/bin/electrum