virtualenv looking in the wrong place for easy_install & other files

Question

Somehow I screwed up my python 2.7 installation on my mac so I tried to reinstall with "brew install python". Now when I try to create a new virtualenv, it throws an error about not finding /bin/easy_install. easy_install is actually in /usr/local/bin/easy_install. If I symlink it to /bin, virtualenv fails with /bin/pip and so on - every file it's looking for is actually in /usr/local/bin not /bin

How can I permanently make virtualenv look in the right place: /usr/local/bin?

$ virtualenv env
New python executable in /Users/myusername/code/lambda/env/bin/python2.7
Also creating executable in /Users/myusername/code/lambda/env/bin/python
Installing setuptools, pip, wheel...
  Complete output from command /Users/myusername/c...da/env/bin/python2.7 -c "import sys, pip; sys...d\"] + sys.argv[1:]))" setuptools pip wheel:
  Ignoring indexes: https://pypi.python.org/simple
Collecting setuptools
Collecting pip
Collecting wheel
Installing collected packages: setuptools, pip, wheel
Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-7.1.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/basecommand.py", line 211, in main
    status = self.run(options, args)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-7.1.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/commands/install.py", line 311, in run
    root=options.root_path,
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-7.1.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/req/req_set.py", line 646, in install
    **kwargs
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-7.1.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/req/req_install.py", line 803, in install
    self.move_wheel_files(self.source_dir, root=root)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-7.1.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/req/req_install.py", line 998, in move_wheel_files
    isolated=self.isolated,
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-7.1.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/wheel.py", line 465, in move_wheel_files
    generated.extend(maker.make(spec))
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-7.1.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_vendor/distlib/scripts.py", line 353, in make
    self._make_script(entry, filenames, options=options)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-7.1.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_vendor/distlib/scripts.py", line 257, in _make_script
    self._write_script(scriptnames, shebang, script, filenames, ext)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-7.1.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_vendor/distlib/scripts.py", line 231, in _write_script
    self._fileop.write_binary_file(outname, script_bytes)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-7.1.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_vendor/distlib/util.py", line 388, in write_binary_file
    with open(path, 'wb') as f:
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/bin/easy_install'
----------------------------------------
...Installing setuptools, pip, wheel...done.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/virtualenv", line 9, in <module>
    load_entry_point('virtualenv==13.2.0.dev0', 'console_scripts', 'virtualenv')()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv.py", line 699, in main
    symlink=options.symlink)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv.py", line 872, in create_environment
    install_wheel(to_install, py_executable, search_dirs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv.py", line 837, in install_wheel
    'PIP_USER': '0'
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv.py", line 777, in call_subprocess
    % (cmd_desc, proc.returncode))
OSError: Command /Users/myusername/c...da/env/bin/python2.7 -c "import sys, pip; sys...d\"] + sys.argv[1:]))" setuptools pip wheel failed with error code 2

About halfway down that output you can see virtualenv looking for /bin/easy_install

$ ls -al /bin/easy_install
ls: /bin/easy_install: No such file or directory

$ ls -al /usr/local/bin/easy_install
lrwxr-xr-x  1 myusername  admin  40 Dec 22 14:21 /usr/local/bin/easy_install -> ../Cellar/python/2.7.11/bin/easy_install

But it should be looking in /usr/local/bin instead because that's the only easy_install I have now and it works:

$ which easy_install
/usr/local/bin/easy_install

$ easy_install
install_dir /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/
error: No urls, filenames, or requirements specified (see --help)

I've tried to pip uninstall virtualenv then pip install virtualenv but that didn't help - same issue.

Anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks!

====================

EDIT: Solved! Tried using /usr/local/bin/virtualenv-2.7 and it worked as expected. I moved /usr/local/bin/virtualenv then symlinked /usr/local/bin/virtualenv-2.7 back to /usr/local/bin/virtualenv --- now all appears to be well in the world.

Answer 1

I compiled my own Python 3, then installed virtualenvwrapper. But after I switched from compiling my own Python to using the deadsnakes PPA I ran into the issue described in the question above.

Seems there's something going on with the #! part of the virtualenv script.

The error I was getting was as follows:

nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/proj/redis-py$ mkvirtualenv --python='/usr/bin/python3' redispytest
bash: /home/nb/.local/bin/virtualenv: /usr/local/bin/python3.6: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

My system Python setup had the following symlinks and Python locations:

nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/proj/redis-py$ ls -la /usr/bin/python3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Feb  8 11:43 /usr/bin/python3 -> python3.5
nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/proj/redis-py$ ls -la /usr/bin/python3.5
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4464400 Nov 28 08:53 /usr/bin/python3.5
nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/proj/redis-py$ which python3.5
/usr/bin/python3.5
nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/proj/redis-py$ ls -la /usr/bin/python3.5
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4464400 Nov 28 08:53 /usr/bin/python3.5
nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/proj/redis-py$ ls -la /usr/bin/python3.6
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4695328 Jan 28 10:49 /usr/bin/python3.6
nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/proj/redis-py$ which virtualenv
/home/nb/.local/bin//virtualenv

And, in /home/nb/.local/bin/¹:

nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/proj/redis-py$ cd ~/.local/bin
nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/.local/bin$ ls
pbr  pip2    pip3    virtualenv        virtualenvwrapper_lazy.sh
pip  pip2.7  pip3.5  virtualenv-clone  virtualenvwrapper.sh

I wondered where this mysterious, and completely absent /usr/local/bin/python3.6 was in the code.

So I installed a full-text search tool and looked for it in the ~/.local folder.

nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~$ cd .local
nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/.local$ sudo apt-get install --quiet --quiet silversearcher-ag
nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/.local$ ag '/usr/local/bin/python3.6'
bin/virtualenv-clone
1:#!/usr/local/bin/python3.6

bin/pbr
1:#!/usr/local/bin/python3.6

Looks like the static reference to Python's in 2 places.

I now have two options:

1. I can edit the /usr/local/bin/python3.6 text in there to refer to /usr/bin/python3.6

2. I can make a symlink from /usr/local/bin/python3.6 -> /usr/bin/python3.6

I went with option 1 for the bin/virtualenv-clone file:

But I also did option 2, just in case this problem exists elsewhere on my system.

nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~$ sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python3.6 /usr/local/bin/python3.6

Well, whatever it was, that worked:

nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/.local$ mkvirtualenv --python='/usr/bin/python3' redispytest
Running virtualenv with interpreter /usr/bin/python3
Using base prefix '/usr'
New python executable in /home/nb/Envs/redispytest/bin/python3
Also creating executable in /home/nb/Envs/redispytest/bin/python
Installing setuptools, pip, wheel...done.
virtualenvwrapper.user_scripts creating /home/nb/Envs/redispytest/bin/predeactivate
virtualenvwrapper.user_scripts creating /home/nb/Envs/redispytest/bin/postdeactivate
virtualenvwrapper.user_scripts creating /home/nb/Envs/redispytest/bin/preactivate
virtualenvwrapper.user_scripts creating /home/nb/Envs/redispytest/bin/postactivate
virtualenvwrapper.user_scripts creating /home/nb/Envs/redispytest/bin/get_env_details
(redispytest) nb@ubuntu-0xA520322HC30H:~/.local$

Summary: Find out which interpreter location your virtualenv is trying to use, and make a symlink from that location to your actual Python.

The reason you need to do this is that at least a few virtualenv locations will have a #! line that refers to a specific location, but won't change if you, say, switch from compiling your own Python to using a PPA.

At first I was hesitant to do this, since I prefer to let the package manager handle this sort of thing, and not complicate my paths too much. But there really doesn't seem to be any other way to fix this. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling both virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper, to no avail.

¹Hmmm... there's pbr's in my .local/bin. What's next, my .local/fridge? Damn hipsters.

Answer 2

Solved! Tried using /usr/local/bin/virtualenv-2.7 and it worked as expected. I moved /usr/local/bin/virtualenv then symlinked /usr/local/bin/virtualenv-2.7 back to /usr/local/bin/virtualenv --- now all appears to be well in the world.