`torchvision::nms` operator missing at runtime in py2app-built macOS app (but `_C.so` is present)

[a-sajjad72]

🐛 Description

I'm building a macOS .app using py2app, which includes torchvision (required by easyocr). Although the app builds without error and includes the torchvision/_C.so binary, I get a runtime error stating that the torchvision::nms operator is missing.

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💥 Runtime Error

RuntimeError: operator torchvision::nms does not exist

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📁 Bundle Structure Verified

The .so file exists inside the final app bundle:

ls -a dist/main.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.12/torchvision

.                             __pycache__                   extension.py                  transforms
..                            _internally_replaced_utils.py image.so                      tv_tensors
.dylibs                       _meta_registrations.py        io                            utils.py
_C.so                         _utils.py                     models                        version.py
__init__.py                   datasets                      ops

torchvision.ops and other modules are also included. Still, torchvision::nms is unavailable at runtime, indicating the C++ extension may not be registering its operators correctly within the app environment.

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⚙️ Environment Details

Component	Version
macOS	15.1 (24B2083)
Machine	Mac mini (Apple M4, 16 GB RAM)
Python	3.12.6
torch	2.2.1
torchvision	0.17.1
py2app	0.28.8
easyocr	1.7.2

Confirmed using:

sw_vers && sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string

ProductName:    macOS
ProductVersion: 15.1
BuildVersion:   24B2083
Apple M4

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🔍 What I've Tried

• Ensured torchvision._C.so is in the bundle
• Included torchvision, torchvision.ops, and torchvision._C in packages and includes in setup.py
• Also explicitly imported the above modules in main.py
• No errors about missing files or libraries — just the unregistered operator at runtime

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Thanks in advance for any guidance. I had attached my setup.py file below. If anything else required, I'll happy to provide.

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setup.py

from setuptools import setup
import glob
import sys
sys.setrecursionlimit(10000)
import os

from utils import get_tessbin_path, get_tessdata_path

# Check if the external binary and tessdata directories exist
if not os.path.exists(get_tessbin_path()):
    raise FileNotFoundError("The external binary directory 'external_bin/TESS_BIN' does not exist.\nTry to install tesseract as described in the README.md file.")

TESS_BIN = get_tessbin_path()
TESS_DATA = get_tessdata_path()

print("TESS_BIN:", TESS_BIN)
print("TESS_DATA:", TESS_DATA)



setup(
    app=["main.py"],
    setup_requires=["py2app"],
    options={
        'py2app': {
            'excludes': ['rubicon'],
            'iconfile': 'icons/icon.icns',
            'plist': {
                'CFBundleIconFile': 'icons/icon.icns',
                'CFBundleName': 'main'
            },
            'packages': ['paddleocr', 'easyocr', 'pytesseract', 'torch', 'torchvision'],
            'includes': ['shapely._geos'],
            'site_packages': True,
        }
    },
    data_files=[
    ('models/tesseract', [TESS_BIN, TESS_DATA]),
    ("icons", [os.path.join("icons", x) for x in os.listdir("icons")]),
    ("models", [os.path.join("models", x) for x in os.listdir("models")]),
    ],
    install_requires=[
        'paddleocr',
        'pandas',
        'opencv-python',
        'numpy<2',
        'Pillow',
        'requests',
        'openpyxl',
        'ttkbootstrap',
        'pytesseract',
        'easyocr',
        'torch==2.2.1',
        'torchvision',
        'dotenv',
        'pyautogui',
        'py2app',
        'jaraco.text',
    ]
)