What to do an error appears when using pip to install Python packages on Linux Mint 22
Published on 16th December 2024 Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutesAfter upgrading to Linux Mint 22, the following message appeared when attempting to install Python packages using the pip command:
error: externally-managed-environment
× This environment is externally managed
╰─> To install Python packages system-wide, try apt install
python3-xyz, where xyz is the package you are trying to
install.
If you wish to install a non-Debian-packaged Python package,
create a virtual environment using python3 -m venv path/to/venv.
Then use path/to/venv/bin/python and path/to/venv/bin/pip. Make
sure you have python3-full installed.
If you wish to install a non-Debian packaged Python application,
it may be easiest to use pipx install xyz, which will manage a
virtual environment for you. Make sure you have pipx installed.
See /usr/share/doc/python3.12/README.venv for more information.
note: If you believe this is a mistake, please contact your Python installation or OS distribution provider. You can override this, at the risk of breaking your Python installation or OS, by passing --break-system-packages.
hint: See PEP 668 for the detailed specification.
This will frustrate anyone following how-tos on the web, so users will need to know about it. On something like Linux Mint, the repositories may not be as up-to-date as PyPI, so picking up the very latest version has its advantages. Thus, I initially used the unrecommended --break-system-packages switch to get things going as before, since doing never broke anything before. While the way of working feels like an overkill in some ways, using pipx probably is the way forward as long as things work as I want them to do.
There is wisdom in using virtual environments too, especially when AI models are involved. For most of what I get to do, that may be getting too elaborate. Then, deleting or renaming the message file in /usr/lib/python3.12/EXTERNALLY-MANAGED is tempting if that gets around things, as retrograde as that probably is. After all, I never broke anything before this message started to appear, possibly since my interests are data related.
To make things work on an Ubuntu web server that I have, I opted to rename that file. The message still feels like overkill to me given my needs and purposes.