Cannot install into user site directory with editable source.

[agoose77]

In build_env.py the environment variable PYTHONNOUSERSITE is set:

pip/src/pip/_internal/build_env.py

Line 127 in 7b02273

'PYTHONNOUSERSITE': '1',

This prevents editable installs with PYTHONUSERBASE=<some-user-base> pip3.8 install --user -e <some-file-path> from succeeding if the user does not have write access to the base-Python site-packages directory.

This is a snapshot of the error.

running develop
    WARNING: The user site-packages directory is disabled.
    error: can't create or remove files in install directory

It may be that it is a deliberate design choice to disable editable installs under a user site directory. I personally needed this feature, however, and I am therefore setting site.ENABLE_USER_SITE = True in setup.py as a workaround.

[ncoghlan]

This affects the pipenv local build instructions in https://pipenv.pypa.io/en/latest/dev/contributing/#development-setup:

• pip3 install -e . doesn't work as the global site-packages isn't writable by regular users
• pip3 install --user -e . doesn't work due to pip indicating the user site directory is disabled

I'm adapting @agoose77's workaround into a PIPENV_BOOTSTRAP=1 environment variable.

[tristanvb]

Ran into this today on debian 9, not sure what has changed but we have been using pip3 install --user -e . for a long time for development purposes, it is strange for this to suddenly stop working.

[lpsinger]

Seeing this on macOS as well.

[tgpfeiffer]

I have seen this failing for a project that uses pyproject.toml (PEP517 install flow), where it works fine for projects without pyproject.toml. @siddalmia has described the same behavior in facebookresearch/fairseq#1977. I wonder if there is something in the PEP517 install flow that breaks this...?

[McSinyx]

@tgpfeiffer, please see the discussion on Discourse for more information. Aside from setup.py develop, another work around for packages with __main__.py is to run it directly, e.g. for pip: python src/pip.

[joshbode]

Following the tip from @agoose77, I'm putting this in my setup.py as a workaround:

import site
import sys
site.ENABLE_USER_SITE = "--user" in sys.argv[1:]
...

[ssbarnea]

Nobody was able to fix this in pip? The whole idea of pep517 was to reduce use of setup.py ending in its removal, not adding more junk into to it.

[pfmoore]

@ssbarnea PEP 517 doesn't support editable installs, so I don't see how PEP 517 is relevant here?

[maxnoe]

@pfmoore you can support an editable install in a project using PEP 517 by adding a rather minimal setup.py.

But then, it is impossible to have -e and --user

[akaihola]

@ssbarnea PEP 517 doesn't support editable installs, so I don't see how PEP 517 is relevant here?

I don't know, but doing a

pip install --user --no-use-pep517 -e .

succeeds, and after that a

pip install --user -e .

doesn't fail anymore. However, this still fails:

pip install --user --force-reinstall -e .

[jyn514]

I also ran into this today. Is this intentionally not supported? I'm not sure why, I'd find it useful.

[ssbarnea]

Apparently this is still broken at least for projects using PEP-517 (no setup.py). Tested with latest pip-22.2.2 and setuptools-65.3.0 but still reproduces.

I suspect it is related to built isolation stuff. Also worth noting another error when I tried to enforce pep517: --use-pep517 is not a valid editable requirement., same happens if I try to disable build isolation.

[tapetersen]

We had this problem on at least ubuntu 22.04 but it works with the most recent versions of pip and setuptools in the venv (which you get if you create the venv with --upgrade-deps) doesn't seem to work if you try to upgrade at least pip and setuptools after it's created though. For some reason system paths are added to the venv sys path.

[pradyunsg]

That’s #11430

[kynan]

FTR: the setuptools tracking bug for this issue is pypa/setuptools#3019 and the fix (pypa/setuptools#3151) has been released in setuptools 62.0.0. Note however that you're still stuck if your system installed setuptools doesn't have this patch as upgrading your user site setuptools won't help (as that's the point of the build isolation).

[ssbarnea]

Raised bugs against distros shipping outdated setuptools:

• https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/setuptools/+bug/1994016 Ubuntu 22.04 and 22.10
• Fedora does not need it as it includes newer setuptools with 37 (up to release tomorrow)