[Distutils] can someone explain why I have started to get these pip failures

[Paul Moore]

On 14 July 2016 at 17:23, Robin Becker <robin at reportlab.com> wrote:
> I used always to build python from source in older ubuntus, but that was
> because we wanted the latest python 2.x etc etc. Using a local copy prevents
> the os from smashing stuff, but means more work whenever a serious upgrade
> is required.
>
> When I run python -mvirtualenv I end up with an environment that has pip and
> setuptools already. Are you saying I should do
>
> /usr/bin/python -mvirtualenv --no-pip --no-setuptools myenv
> myenv/bin/python get_pip.py
>
> and then proceed from there? Or is it foolish to rely on the system python
> at all?
>
> I haven't seen this problem in ubuntu 14.04, but that may be just luck.
>
> I certainly notice some new behaviour ie the system pip seems to want to
> assert --user whereas it used to fail for lack of rights in installing into
> /usr/lib/python....

Yes, apparently Ubuntu have patched pip to make --user the default.
I've seen some bug reports caused by this patch, so it's possible that
it's what is causing you problems here. Unfortunately, as that is an
Ubuntu patch you'd need to report it to them.

Paul