# Facing issues when using ansible 2.16 with python 3.11 **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Tags:** rhel9, ansible-core\ **Created:** [February 13, 2026, 4:06am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/facing-issues-when-using-ansible-2-16-with-python-3-11/45328 "2026-02-13T04:06:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Harshit\_Gupta](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harshit_gupta/32/8010_2.png) [@Harshit\_Gupta](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Harshit_Gupta)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 4:06am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/facing-issues-when-using-ansible-2-16-with-python-3-11/45328/1 "2026-02-13T04:06:11Z")
I am facing below issue when gathering facts with ansible 2.16. As we are upgrading our environment from ansible 2.14 to ansible 2.16. ````auto TASK [Gathering Facts] ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => changed=false ansible_facts: {} failed_modules: ansible.legacy.setup: exception: |- Traceback (most recent call last): File "/root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1770954071.9596925-56009-84847984617131/AnsiballZ_setup.py", line 107, in _ansiballz_main() File "/root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1770954071.9596925-56009-84847984617131/AnsiballZ_setup.py", line 99, in _ansiballz_main invoke_module(zipped_mod, temp_path, ANSIBALLZ_PARAMS) File "/root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1770954071.9596925-56009-84847984617131/AnsiballZ_setup.py", line 47, in invoke_module runpy.run_module(mod_name='ansible.modules.ansible.legacy.setup', init_globals=dict(_module_fqn='ansible.modules.ansible.legacy.setup', _modlib_path=modlib_path), File "", line 226, in run_module File "", line 98, in _run_module_code File "", line 88, in _run_code File "/tmp/ansible_ansible.legacy.setup_payload_xfjj0shm/ansible_ansible.legacy.setup_payload.zip/ansible/modules/ansible/legacy/setup.py", line 175, in ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'ansible.modules.ansible.module_utils' failed: true module_stderr: |- Traceback (most recent call last): File "/root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1770954071.9596925-56009-84847984617131/AnsiballZ_setup.py", line 107, in _ansiballz_main() File "/root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1770954071.9596925-56009-84847984617131/AnsiballZ_setup.py", line 99, in _ansiballz_main invoke_module(zipped_mod, temp_path, ANSIBALLZ_PARAMS) File "/root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1770954071.9596925-56009-84847984617131/AnsiballZ_setup.py", line 47, in invoke_module runpy.run_module(mod_name='ansible.modules.ansible.legacy.setup', init_globals=dict(_module_fqn='ansible.modules.ansible.legacy.setup', _modlib_path=modlib_path), File "", line 226, in run_module File "", line 98, in _run_module_code File "", line 88, in _run_code File "/tmp/ansible_ansible.legacy.setup_payload_xfjj0shm/ansible_ansible.legacy.setup_payload.zip/ansible/modules/ansible/legacy/setup.py", line 175, in ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'ansible.modules.ansible.module_utils' module_stdout: '' msg: |- MODULE FAILURE See stdout/stderr for the exact error rc: 1 msg: |- The following modules failed to execute: ansible.legacy.setup``` I am using virtual env. Let me know incase you need more information ```` ---
**Author:** ![shertel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/shertel/32/1241_2.png) [@shertel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/shertel)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 7:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/facing-issues-when-using-ansible-2-16-with-python-3-11/45328/2 "2026-02-13T19:59:14Z")
Do you have a setup module in any of the [module paths](https://docs.ansible.com/projects/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html#default-module-path) or in a library/ directory alongside your playbook? You can check the configured module paths with `ansible-config dump | grep DEFAULT_MODULE_PATH`. I can reproduce this by copying the [builtin setup module](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/stable-2.16/lib/ansible/modules/setup.py) into my library/, but it doesn’t work on 2.14 either. Changing the relative import (`from ..module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule`) to an absolute import (`from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule`) fixes it. ---
**Author:** ![Harshit\_Gupta](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harshit_gupta/32/8010_2.png) [@Harshit\_Gupta](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Harshit_Gupta)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 8:34am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/facing-issues-when-using-ansible-2-16-with-python-3-11/45328/3 "2026-02-18T08:34:36Z")
> [@shertel](#): > > ansible-config dump | grep DEFAULT\_MODULE\_PATH We are using pyenv for ansible 2.16 and here is the cfg file: ```auto (pyenv-ansible-2.16) [dev] root@foreman:pyenv-ansible-2.16# cat ../ansible-2.16-base.cfg [defaults] stdout_callback = yaml library = pyenv-ansible-2.16/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ansible/modules:ansible-module-foreman:./extra/ceph-ansible/library action_plugins = plugins/actions:./extra/ceph-ansible/plugins/actions callback_plugins = plugins/callback filter_plugins = plugins/filter:./filter_plugins lookup_plugins = lookup_plugins roles_path = ./extra/kubespray/roles/:./roles:./extra/ceph-ansible/roles ``` If I remove this path `pyenv-ansible-2.16/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ansible/modules` then I didn’t see this issue. Also this folder contain below files: ```auto (pyenv-ansible-2.16) [dev] root@foreman:modules# ls | xargs add_host.py apt_key.py apt.py apt_repository.py assemble.py assert.py async_status.py async_wrapper.py blockinfile.py command.py copy.py cron.py deb822_repository.py debconf.py debug.py dnf5.py dnf.py dpkg_selections.py expect.py fail.py fetch.py file.py find.py gather_facts.py getent.py get_url.py git.py group_by.py group.py hashivault hostname.py import_playbook.py import_role.py import_tasks.py include_role.py include_tasks.py include_vars.py __init__.py iptables.py known_hosts.py lineinfile.py meta.py package_facts.py package.py pause.py ping.py pip.py __pycache__ raw.py reboot.py replace.py rpm_key.py script.py service_facts.py service.py set_fact.py set_stats.py setup.py shell.py slurp.py stat.py subversion.py systemd.py systemd_service.py sysvinit.py tempfile.py template.py unarchive.py uri.py user.py validate_argument_spec.py wait_for_connection.py wait_for.py yum.py yum_repository.py ``` ---
**Author:** ![shertel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/shertel/32/1241_2.png) [@shertel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/shertel)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 9:01pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/facing-issues-when-using-ansible-2-16-with-python-3-11/45328/4 "2026-02-18T21:01:33Z")
The ansible.builtin paths don’t need to be configured, so removing it makes sense. At best it does nothing. The error occurs if the setup.py in your library is not the same as the `ansible.builtin.setup` module (and is executed as `ansible.legacy.setup`, like `gather_facts` does by default). The relative import works for the package `ansible.modules.setup`, but you can see in your traceback that the package is `ansible.modules.ansible.legacy.setup` (which would require a relative import like `from ....module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule` or absolute import instead).