AttributeError: module 'PIL.Image' has no attribute 'VERSION' python2 pip

When trying to run cinnamon-settings python2 I see the following error:

hutber@hutber:~$ cinnamon-settings python2
Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/cinnamon-settings.py", line 619, in <module> window = MainWindow() File "/usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/cinnamon-settings.py", line 247, in __init__ for module in modules: File "/usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/modules/cs_backgrounds.py", line 5, in <module> import imtools File "/usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/bin/imtools.py", line 623, in <module> if Image.VERSION == '1.1.7':
AttributeError: module 'PIL.Image' has no attribute 'VERSION'

I saw this error after installing pip3 install streamdeck_ui --user install

2 Answers

This is a known versioning issue between cinnamon and pillow >= 6.0.0. You can find more info here. As a previous commenter said, you can find the error in /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/bin/imtools.py. However, changing Image.VERSION to PIL.VERSION will not fix the issue for pillow >= 7.0.0. You must instead change the line to if Image.__version__ == '1.1.7':.

If you are comfortable with python. You can modify /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/bin/imtools.py.

1. Make a backup of the file. i.e

sudo cp /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/bin/imtools.py /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/bin/imtools.py.bk

2. Open /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/bin/imtools.py with nano

sudo nano /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/bin/imtools.py

3. Delete line 623 to 636. And shift lines 637 to 645 4 spaces to the left.

Before:

if Image.VERSION == '1.1.7': def split(image): """Work around for bug in Pil 1.1.7 :param image: input image :type image: PIL image object :returns: the different color bands of the image (eg R, G, B) :rtype: tuple """ image.load() return image.split()
else: def split(image): """Work around for bug in Pil 1.1.7 :param image: input image :type image: PIL image object :returns: the different color bands of the image (eg R, G, B) :rtype: tuple """ return image.split()

After:

def split(image): """Work around for bug in Pil 1.1.7 :param image: input image :type image: PIL image object :returns: the different color bands of the image (eg R, G, B) :rtype: tuple """ return image.split()

A check for version Image.VERSION 1.1.7 is not needed if you are using current version of PIL.