CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-3.xubuntupip
Trimax
Trimax

Reputation: 2473

Why runs 'pip' as Python 3 module but not as script?

I've installed Lubuntu 16.04 LTS that comes with Python 3.5, but with Python 2.7 as default Python interpreter.
Both versions comes without pip package intalled. I only will use the 3.5 version. So I've installed pip3 with:

$ sudo apt-get install python3-pip

Then I tried to update the pip version (because the Ubuntu repositories have old versions): $ pip3 install --upgrade pip3 But pip3 can't locate pip3 package, and sends me this message:

Collecting pip3
Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement pip3 (from versions: ) No matching distribution found for pip3

After that, I tried this other:

$ pip3 intall --upgrade pip

And it updates from pip 8.1.1 to pip 8.1.2

pip 8.1.2 from /home/trimax/.local/lib/python3.5/site-packages (python 3.5)

If I try this:

$ pip -V

Doesn't work:

The program 'pip' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: sudo apt-get install python-pip

But if I try this:

$ python3 -m pip -V

That works:

pip 8.1.2 from /home/trimax/.local/lib/python3.5/site-packages (python 3.5)

The question is Why runs pip as module but not as script?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 366

Answers (2)

andrzej3393
andrzej3393

Reputation: 98

PEP 394 describes naming of Python binaries, and according to its recommendations, you have pip3 in system because pip is reserved for Python 2.x pip.

Of course you can alias pip to pip3, but it's not recommended.

Upvotes: 0

Gouri
Gouri

Reputation: 347

pip3 is in reality the pip package for python3. Since both python2 and python3 can coexist, the pip package for 3.5 is renamed as pip3 to avoid conflict. (By the package manager).

The upgrade syntax for any package is 

<script_name_for_pip> install --upgrade <package_name>

and the package name is pip in pipy. That justifies why you have to provide pip as the package name and NOT pip3.

  • pip -v doesn't work because pip executable doesn't exist.

somewhat is a related note, you can also use the below to upgrade pip or any package for that matter. 

easy_install-3.5 -U pip

Upvotes: 3

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