Can't install Python packages using pip

Question

I'm going to create own Django web application but I can't prepare virtual environment and install Python packages. When I execute $ virtualenv in terminal, I'm getting error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/virtualenv", line 6, in <module>
    from pkg_resources import load_entry_point
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3161, in <module>
    @_call_aside
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3145, in _call_aside
    f(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3174, in _initialize_master_working_set
    working_set = WorkingSet._build_master()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 657, in _build_master
    ws = cls()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 650, in __init__
    self.add_entry(entry)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 706, in add_entry
    for dist in find_distributions(entry, True):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2062, in find_on_path
    for dist in factory(fullpath):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2124, in distributions_from_metadata
    if len(os.listdir(path)) == 0:
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/pytz-2017.3.dist-info'

There's result of $ pip command:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/pip", line 9, in <module>
    from pip import main
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/__init__.py", line 21, in <module>
    from pip._vendor.requests.packages.urllib3.exceptions import DependencyWarning
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/__init__.py", line 76, in <module>
    vendored("pkg_resources")
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/__init__.py", line 36, in vendored
    __import__(modulename, globals(), locals(), level=0)
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3019, in <module>
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3003, in _call_aside
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3032, in _initialize_master_working_set
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 646, in _build_master
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 639, in __init__
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 695, in add_entry
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2012, in find_on_path
OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pytz-2017.3.dist-info'

And $ pip3 command:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/__init__.py", line 33, in vendored
    __import__(vendored_name, globals(), locals(), level=0)
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip._vendor.pkg_resources'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/pip3", line 9, in <module>
    from pip import main
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/__init__.py", line 21, in <module>
    from pip._vendor.requests.packages.urllib3.exceptions import DependencyWarning
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/__init__.py", line 76, in <module>
    vendored("pkg_resources")
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/__init__.py", line 36, in vendored
    __import__(modulename, globals(), locals(), level=0)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 971, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 955, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 656, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 626, in _load_backward_compatible
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3019, in <module>
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3003, in _call_aside
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 3032, in _initialize_master_working_set
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 646, in _build_master
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 639, in __init__
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 695, in add_entry
  File "/usr/share/python-wheels/pkg_resources-0.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2012, in find_on_path
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/pytz-2017.3.dist-info'

virtualenv, pip, pip3 running as root appears to be working. I'm working on Debian 9 testing.

Can anyone help me?

Answer 1

Don't use root for this. You really don't need it.

Here's how you can work with Django in a virtual env (strongly recommended).

• Pick a directory where you want to install the web app. Let's call it myproj: mkdir myproj && cd myproj
• Create the virtual env: python -mvenv venv
• Activate the virtual env: . venv/bin/activate
• Install packages: pip install django

And you're good to go.

Remember to activate the virtual env every time you need to work with this project. That is, every time you open a new shell to work with this project, cd into myproj and run again the activation script with . venv/bin/activate. The virtual env stays active in the current shell, so you don't need to rerun before every operation, you only need to run once in every new shell.