CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-3.xpipvirtualenvpython-venv
Arseni Mourzenko
Arseni Mourzenko

Reputation: 52321

How to avoid "Permission denied" when using pip with virtualenv

I attempt to deploy a Python package with pip in a virtual environment on an Ubuntu machine, but encounter a permission-related issue. For example:

(TestVirtualEnv)test@testServer:~$ pip install markdown2

terminates by:

error: could not create '/home/test/virtualenvs/TestVirtualEnv/lib/python3.3/site-packages/markdown2.py': Permission denied

I can't sudo, since it will install the package globally, and not within the virtual environment. I chowned site-packages; ls shows only directories related to easy_install, pip and setuptools, and nothing related to Markdown.

How to deploy a package in a virtual environment with pip without encountering permission-related errors?

Upvotes: 116

Views: 203829

Answers (14)

Ayanabha
Ayanabha

Reputation: 51

I was facing the same issue in Windows 11, however, I could not find any specific thread for the same. That's why I am giving the solution here.

  • While creating the venv, make sure the pip in the global installation is up to date. In simple words, before creating the venv, update pip in the main installation of python using \your\python\path.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip (To get the path, use where python).
  • After that, create the venv using \your\python\path.exe -m venv <venv name>
  • Now again list all the python environments using where python and copy the newly created venv path
  • Use this new venv path whenever using any python command. For example \your\new\venv\path -m pip install --upgrade pip or \your\new\venv\path main.py etc.
  • After activating the venv, you can use it normally without mentioning specified python path.

Hope this helps!

Upvotes: 0

Edward Spencer
Edward Spencer

Reputation: 658

for me, somehow the repo I wanted to install locally had got some different permissions applied. I removed the repo, re-cloned and install worked fine.

cd /path/to/repo
rm -rf package
git clone [email protected]:pipeline/package.git
git install -e /path/to/repo/package

Upvotes: 0

mrkanuke
mrkanuke

Reputation: 55

I had the same problem. I created *and activated a venv as a regular user in Git Bash within VS Code running on Windows 11 and got a "permission denied" when trying to run pip. I could not use sudo at all (corporate laptop).

My solution was:

Create your venv like normal (non-root user):

python -m venv <venv_name>

Activate your venv:

source venv/Scripts/activate

Then, assuming you're using a requirements.txt file, run:

python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

The key is the "python -m"

You may need to upgrade your pip if a package fails to install properly. Try:

python -m pip install --upgrade pip

then try reinstalling your requirements.

If you want to confirm this is the same error to the solution above, you can recreate the error by:

*after you activate your venv, run:

python --version

or

which python

and they should both indicate you're using the python within your venv (again, assuming you activated it)

Then run:

pip --version

and you should see your permission denied.

$ pip --version

bash: \venv/Scripts/pip: Permission denied

Then running

python -m pip --version

should show you the correct pip version of the venv and path within your venv.

Upvotes: 1

DRFeinberg
DRFeinberg

Reputation: 77

I have had this issue also. I've checked my file & directory ownership and permissions using ls -hal. I own the files and they have the right permissions. For me, the issue is running the pip command, but it's the wrong pip. Try running which pip to find out which version of pip is being used. From the activated virtual environment, run python3 -m pip install packagename instead of pip install packagename. If it gets worse, you can run /path/to/the/pip/you/want/pip install filename.

Upvotes: 0

Marc Maxmeister
Marc Maxmeister

Reputation: 4689

On centos 7 this worked:

first, create it

virtualenv --python=/usr/local/bin/python3.8 fastapi

then to activate

source fastapi/bin/activate

Upvotes: 0

Sebastian Hurtado
Sebastian Hurtado

Reputation: 1689

I was getting permission denied when trying to activate my virtual environment. I landed on this page trying to find solutions so perhaps this could also help others who are facing similar issues

source your_env_name_goes_here/bin/activate

I was using the wrong command (without the source), to activate my environment. If you're on zsh that's the correct command to use. If not, python docs has a table of the commands to use depending on your platform and shell (windows or mac, bash or powershell etc)

Upvotes: 8

Sam Mason
Sam Mason

Reputation: 16184

I've also had this happen (by accident) after creating a new venv while inside an existing virtual environment. an easy way to diagnose this would be to see where the python is symlinked to, i.e. run:

ls -l venv/bin/python

and make sure it points to the appropriate Python binary. For most systems this will be /usr/bin/python or /usr/bin/python3. while if it points to an existing virtual environment it'll be something like /home/youruser/somedir/bin/python. if it's the latter than I'd suggest recreating the venv while making sure that you aren't "inside" any existing virtualenv (i.e. run deactivate )

Upvotes: 0

Dinesh Chandra Kumawat
Dinesh Chandra Kumawat

Reputation: 189

If you created virtual environment using root then use this command

sudo su

it will give you the root access and then activate your virtual environment using this

source /root/.env/ENV_NAME/bin/activate

Upvotes: 9

Vkreddy
Vkreddy

Reputation: 1718

While creating virtualenv if you use sudo the directory is created with root privileges.So when you try to install a package with non-sudo user you won't have permission to install into it. So always create virtualenv without sudo and install without sudo.

You can also copy packages installed on global python to virtualenv. 

cp -r /lib/python/site-packages/* virtualenv/lib/python/site-packages/

Upvotes: 0

jmrueda
jmrueda

Reputation: 1428

You did not activate the virtual environment before using pip.

Try it with: 

$(your venv path) . bin/activate

And then use pip -r requirements.txt on your main folder

Upvotes: 1

nealmcb
nealmcb

Reputation: 13481

In my case, I was using mkvirtualenv, but didn't tell it I was going to be using python3. I got this error:

mkvirtualenv hug
pip3 install hug -U

....
error: could not create '/usr/lib/python3.4/site-packages': Permission denied

It worked after specifying python3:

mkvirtualenv --python=/usr/bin/python3 hug
pip3 install hug -U

Upvotes: 6

Vingtoft
Vingtoft

Reputation: 14636

Solution:

If you created the virtualenv as root, run the following command:

sudo chown -R your_username:your_username path/to/virtuaelenv/

This will probably fix your problem.

Cheers

Upvotes: 152

AliBZ
AliBZ

Reputation: 4099

I didn't create my virtualenv using sudo. So Sebastian's answer didn't apply to me. My project is called utils. I checked utils directory and saw this:

-rw-r--r--   1 macuser  staff   983  6 Jan 15:17 README.md
drwxr-xr-x   6 root     staff   204  6 Jan 14:36 utils.egg-info
-rw-r--r--   1 macuser  staff    31  6 Jan 15:09 requirements.txt

As you can see, utils.egg-info is owned by root not macuser. That is why it was giving me permission denied error. I also had to remove /Users/macuser/.virtualenvs/armoury/lib/python2.7/site-packages/utils.egg-link as it was created by root as well. I did pip install -e . again after removing those, and it worked.

Upvotes: 5

sebastian_oe
sebastian_oe

Reputation: 7330

virtualenv permission problems might occur when you create the virtualenv as sudo and then operate without sudo in the virtualenv.

As found out in your question's comment, the solution here is to create the virtualenv without sudo to be able to work (esp. write) in it without sudo.

Upvotes: 122

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