I am developing a python-flask web application using Python 3.12 and locally it works fine.
I want to deploy it on Azure using Azure App Services (Web App).

I configured the Github actions to deploy the project on Azure App Services but after the deploy (successful), when i try to reach the web site i get the error:

ImportError: cannot import name 'Sequence' from 'collections' (/opt/python/3.12.2/lib/python3.12/collections/__init__.py)

It seems that the issue is that it is necessary to have:

from collections.abc import Sequence

I don’t get anyway why locally (even without this change) everything works fine (i created a dedicated virtual environment locally and i am using the corresponding requirements.txt file for the deploy) and online i get that error. Moreover, in case i want to have this “change” online, how can i handle it?

I tried to update the Github workflow but anyway i get the same error:

name: Build and deploy Python app to Azure Web App

env:
  AZURE_WEBAPP_NAME: MYWEBAPP    # Set this to the name of your Azure Web App
  PYTHON_VERSION: '3.12'         # Set this to the Python version to use

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Python version
        uses: actions/[email protected]
        with:
          python-version: ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
          cache: 'pip'

      - name: Create and start virtual environment
        run: |
          python -m venv venv
          source venv/bin/activate

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          source venv/bin/activate
          pip install -r requirements.txt

      - name: Debug before patching
        run: |
          source venv/bin/activate
          echo "Checking for incorrect imports in pathlib.py before patching:"
          grep 'from collections import Sequence' venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pathlib.py || true

      - name: Patch pathlib.py to fix import error
        run: |
          source venv/bin/activate
          echo "Patching pathlib.py..."
          sed -i 's/from collections import Sequence/from collections.abc import Sequence/' venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pathlib.py || true

      - name: Debug after patching
        run: |
          source venv/bin/activate
          echo "Checking for incorrect imports in pathlib.py after patching:"
          grep 'from collections import Sequence' venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pathlib.py || true
          echo "Checking for correct imports in pathlib.py after patching:"
          grep 'from collections.abc import Sequence' venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pathlib.py || true

      - name: Check Python Path and Virtual Environment
        run: |
          source venv/bin/activate
          python -c "import sys; print('Python executable:', sys.executable); print('Python path:', sys.path);"

      - name: Clean up and rebuild
        run: |
          source venv/bin/activate
          pip cache purge
          python -m pip uninstall -y -r requirements.txt
          pip install -r requirements.txt

      - name: Create .env file with secrets
        run: |
          source venv/bin/activate
          echo "SECRET_KEY=${{ secrets.SECRET_KEY }}" >> .env
          echo "DATABASE_URL=${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}" >> .env
          # Add other secrets as needed

      # Optional: Add step to run tests here (PyTest, Django test suites, etc.)

      - name: Upload artifact for deployment jobs
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
        with:
          name: python-app
          path: |
            .
            !venv/

  deploy:
    permissions:
      contents: none
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: build
    environment:
      name: 'Development'
      url: ${{ steps.deploy-to-webapp.outputs.webapp-url }}

    steps:
      - name: Download artifact from build job
        uses: actions/download-artifact@v3
        with:
          name: python-app
          path: .

      - name: 'Deploy to Azure Web App'
        id: deploy-to-webapp
        uses: azure/webapps-deploy@v2
        with:
          app-name: ${{ env.AZURE_WEBAPP_NAME }}
          publish-profile: ${{ secrets.AZURE_WEBAPP_PUBLISH_PROFILE }}

Any idea how to handle this issue?

Thanks

stefano