On Thu, Sep 25, 2014 at 9:00 AM, Donald Stufft <donald@stufft.io> wrote:
1) Just always default to —user and add a —system or similar flag, this is super easy to change but is a backwards incompatible change and would need to go through a deprecation window.
Maybe would have been the way to go to begin with, but I think backwards compatibility should probably trump "better" -- even with a deprecation window.
2) Switch to —user based on if the user has permission to write to the site-packages or not.
ouch -- no. Why not a clear error message if pip can't write to site-packages -- something like: """ pip doesn't have permissions to write to the system location. If you want to install this package system-wide, you need to run pip with admin priviledges (and example here if it's easy), if you want to install for this user only, pass the "--user" flag to pip install """ "In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess." -Chris -- Christopher Barker, Ph.D. Oceanographer Emergency Response Division NOAA/NOS/OR&R (206) 526-6959 voice 7600 Sand Point Way NE (206) 526-6329 fax Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-6317 main reception Chris.Barker@noaa.gov