need help installing version from different fork

[ginahoy]

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Question

Last year, to resolve an issue, I was advised in this forum to install a patched version of youtube-dl from this fork. I recently updated from that fork to resolve a new issue, but was advised to switch back to the main fork. However, after installing the latest nightly (7/25), I checked the version and it's still showing the 7/30 build from the patched fork. Here's the terminal log:

xxxxx@linux-desktop ~/Music/youtube-dl $ sudo python setup.py install
running install
running build
running build_py
running build_scripts
running install_lib
running install_scripts
changing mode of /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl to 755
running install_data
running install_egg_info
Removing /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl-2024.07.25.egg-info
Writing /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl-2024.07.25.egg-info

xxxxx@linux-desktop ~/Music/youtube-dl $ youtube-dl --version
2024.07.30.40298

I'm not very experienced with Linux commands, but I'm thinking maybe I need to uninstall the 7/30 patched version first. The README file provides this command: sudo apt-get remove -y youtube-dl but the response is: Package 'youtube-dl' is not installed, so not removed... I think that command only applies when youtube-dl was installed using a package manager.

I extracted youtube-dl from the GNU zip file then used setup.py to install, so I searched for a command to uninstall a program installed with setup.py and found this: sudo pip uninstall youtube-dl. When I run that command, I get this error: pip: command not found.

Please advise if I need to uninstall the patched version first and if so, what are the commands for that. Thx.

[aiur-adept]

sudo apt-get remove -y youtube-dl fails because you didn't install it using the apt package manager. You probably did python setup.py install or maybe used pip.

Now, installing should remove older versions, like you see in the line

Removing /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/youtube_dl-2024.07.25.egg-info

So, perhaps figure out where youtube-dl is currently living because the installer can't find it to uninstall. Perhaps was it installed using python3 while here you're using python2.7 to run setup.py?

Check /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ and /usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/ (replace 3.10 with whatever version you have for 3) and see what versions of youtube-dl are in there (the .egg-info files).

Ultimately, i think pip can find it wherever it's been installed, so try just running sudo pip uninstall youtube-dl or sudo pip3 uninstall youtube-dl

[dirkf]

which youtube-dl ?
echo $PATH ?

[ginahoy]

Thank you for your replies!

@aiur-adept, yes, as noted my OP, I installed youtube-dl using setup.py, and I tried removing using pip and get the response: pip: command not found (ditto with pip3).

I just checked my python distribution packages and there are three .egg-info files located in the paytyon2.7 folder:

• youtube_dl-2023.04.14.19419.egg-info
• youtube_dl-2024.07.25.egg-info
• youtube_dl-2024.07.30.40298.egg-info

I'm not sure what to do with that information.

@dirkf, here's the output from the commands you suggested:

david@linux-desktop ~ $ which youtube-dl
/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl

david@linux-desktop ~ $ echo $PATH
/home/david/bin:/home/david/.local/bin:/opt/OpenPrinting-Gutenprint/sbin:/opt/OpenPrinting-Gutenprint/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin

Again, not sure what to do. Learning more about Linux is on my endless list of things I need to do :-)

[dirkf]

So just acquire the nightly bundled POSIX release, make it executable, and overwrite /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl with it. You'll need to sudo ... the final step.

[ginahoy]

I appreciate your assistance but I'm not familiar with the term 'bundled POSIX release'...

OK, I looked it up -- Portable OS System Interface, but that doesn't tell me which file to grab from the nightly asset list, or how to 'make it executable'.

(If a program isn't included in my distro's repository or the repository version is outdated, I'm usually at a loss on how to proceed. For youtube-dl, the -U parameter worked in the past, but last year, to resolve a different issue, I had to be spoon-fed instructions on where to locate, which file, and how to install a patched fork. It resolved my issue.)

Sorry for being such a dunce. I'm thinking maybe I should take this to a Linux forum.

[aiur-adept]

@ginahoy You can download the nightly builds here:

https://github.com/ytdl-org/ytdl-nightly/releases

You'll want youtube-dl (click this link to download)

Then sudo mv that file to /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl

This is a more direct way to install youtube-dl rather than using setup.py

[dirkf]

All the help you need is in #30839, in particular the linked "further installation guidance". The online manual is a bit less helpful, at least until #32786 is finished.

Generally, users should only be running the build commands (setup.py, eg) in the youtube-dl distribution as part of some development project, and not just to install the program. Having said that, one thing that we don't make clear, I think, is that a pip installation is recommended if the user wants to use the youtube_dl Python module rather than just running the youtube-dl command.

[ginahoy]

OK, that worked! (Although I fumbled around before I figured out how to make it executable using Thunar file mgr to change file properties.)

The --version option now shows 2024.08.02, and to my amazement, that fixed (at least for me) the current error I was dealing with (HTTP Error 403: Forbidden. Retrying fragment 1 (1/10)...) when downloading a particular audio file (.m4a). Thanks!

I'm still a bit confused as to why the pip command wasn't already installed on my system (re: sudo pip uninstall youtube-dl resulted in command not found error). Seems like my python install would have included the pip command. Sorry, that's more of a rhetorical question as I just found instructions and installed pip.

[dirkf]

Use python -m pip as the pip command, where python is how you invoke the relevant Python version. If there's apparently no such module, use python -m ensurepip.

A default Python installation comes with pip but a package manager (apt, say) may disable it, on the grounds that it wants to be in charge of installing Python modules. Maybe one or more of your residual yt-dl installations were made with the system package manager?

Also, and obligatory: XKCD 1987.

... to my amazement, that fixed (at least for me) the current error I was dealing with ...

It shouldn't be so surprising since it was the point of the new release, but good to know.