ImportError: cannot import name 'strip_ansi' from 'IPython.utils.text' with Python 3.13 and recent IPython versions

[dbikard]

When trying to install nbdev I encountered an import error when running nbdev_install_quarto in an environment with Python 3.13 and a recent version of IPython. The execnb.shell module attempts to import strip_ansi from IPython.utils.text, but this function has been moved to IPython.core.ultratb in IPython versions 8.0 and later.

This breaks functionality that relies on execnb.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Set up a Python 3.13 environment (e.g., using conda).
2. Install jupyterlab pip install jupyterlab
3. Install nbdev (which will pull execnb as a dependency).

pip install nbdev

4. Attempt to run a command that utilizes execnb, for example:

nbdev_install_quarto

The following traceback occurs:

nbdev_install_quarto
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/dbikard/anaconda3/envs/randseq/bin/nbdev_install_quarto", line 5, in <module>
    from nbdev.quarto import install_quarto
  File "/home/dbikard/anaconda3/envs/randseq/lib/python3.13/site-packages/nbdev/quarto.py", line 18, in <module>
    from .serve import proc_nbs,_proc_file
  File "/home/dbikard/anaconda3/envs/randseq/lib/python3.13/site-packages/nbdev/serve.py", line 19, in <module>
    from .processors import FilterDefaults
  File "/home/dbikard/anaconda3/envs/randseq/lib/python3.13/site-packages/nbdev/processors.py", line 23, in <module>
    from execnb.shell import *
  File "/home/dbikard/anaconda3/envs/randseq/lib/python3.13/site-packages/execnb/shell.py", line 20, in <module>
    from IPython.utils.text import strip_ansi
ImportError: cannot import name 'strip_ansi' from 'IPython.utils.text' (/home/dbikard/anaconda3/envs/randseq/lib/python3.13/site-packages/IPython/utils/text.py)

Environment:

• OS: Ubuntu
• Python Version: 3.13
• nbdev Version: 2.3.34
• execnb Version: 0.1.11
• IPython Version: 9.2.0

Proposed Solution (for execnb):

Update the import in execnb/shell.py to be compatible with modern IPython versions. This typically involves changing:

from IPython.utils.text import strip_ansi

to:

try:
    from IPython.utils.text import strip_ansi  # For older IPython versions
except ImportError:
    from IPython.core.ultratb import strip_ansi  # For IPython 8.0+

This will ensure compatibility across different IPython versions.

[dbikard]

I have now discovered that the problem depends installation order. The nbdev documentation/walkthrough suggests installing jupyterlab first, then nbdev:

pip install jupyterlab
pip install nbdev
nbdev_install_quarto

When following this order, I consistently hit the ImportError as previously discussed.

However, if I skip the pip install jupyterlab step and directly pip install nbdev in a clean Python 3.11 environment, then the nbdev_install_quarto command works.

Note that the End-To-End Walkthrough as written now doesn't work (at least in my setup), so this feels like a pretty urgent problem to fix.

[dbikard]

I now see that this was resolved in more recent versions of execnb. Things work fine with execnb 0.1.14 and with nbdev 2.4.2. I unsure why pip installed nbdev Version: 2.3.34 and execnb Version: 0.1.11 in my previous attempts, but it doesn't seem to be an issue now.

[jph00]

Great thanks for the update.

[fzngagan]

Faced the same issue with execnb when installing via conda since it installs 0.1.11 version. using pip install fixed it since it installed 0.1.14.