Installing Packages

This section covers the basics of how to install Python :term:`packages <Distribution Package>`.

It's important to note that the term "package" in this context is being used to describe a bundle of software to be installed (i.e. as a synonym for a :term:`distribution <Distribution Package>`). It does not refer to the kind of :term:`package <Import Package>` that you import in your Python source code (i.e. a container of modules). It is common in the Python community to refer to a :term:`distribution <Distribution Package>` using the term "package". Using the term "distribution" is often not preferred, because it can easily be confused with a Linux distribution, or another larger software distribution like Python itself.

Requirements for Installing Packages

This section describes the steps to follow before installing other Python packages.

Ensure you can run Python from the command line

Before you go any further, make sure you have Python and that the expected version is available from your command line. You can check this by running:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 --version

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py --version

You should get some output like Python 3.6.3. If you do not have Python, please install the latest 3.x version from python.org or refer to the :ref:`Installing Python <python-guide:installation>` section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to Python.

Note

If you're a newcomer and you get an error like this:

>>> python3 --version
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'python3' is not defined

It's because this command and other suggested commands in this tutorial are intended to be run in a shell (also called a terminal or console). See the Python for Beginners getting started tutorial for an introduction to using your operating system's shell and interacting with Python.

Note

If you're using an enhanced shell like IPython or the Jupyter notebook, you can run system commands like those in this tutorial by prefacing them with a ! character:

In [1]: import sys
        !{sys.executable} --version
Python 3.6.3

It's recommended to write {sys.executable} rather than plain python in order to ensure that commands are run in the Python installation matching the currently running notebook (which may not be the same Python installation that the python command refers to).

Note

Due to the way most Linux distributions are handling the Python 3 migration, Linux users using the system Python without creating a virtual environment first should replace the python command in this tutorial with python3 and the python -m pip command with python3 -m pip --user. Do not run any of the commands in this tutorial with sudo: if you get a permissions error, come back to the section on creating virtual environments, set one up, and then continue with the tutorial as written.

Ensure you can run pip from the command line

Additionally, you'll need to make sure you have :ref:`pip` available. You can check this by running:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip --version

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip --version

If you installed Python from source, with an installer from python.org, or via Homebrew you should already have pip. If you're on Linux and installed using your OS package manager, you may have to install pip separately, see :doc:`/guides/installing-using-linux-tools`.

If pip isn't already installed, then first try to bootstrap it from the standard library:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m ensurepip --default-pip

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m ensurepip --default-pip

If that still doesn't allow you to run python -m pip:

Securely Download get-pip.py [1]
Run python get-pip.py. [2] This will install or upgrade pip. Additionally, it will install :ref:`setuptools` and :ref:`wheel` if they're not installed already.

Warning

Be cautious if you're using a Python install that's managed by your operating system or another package manager. get-pip.py does not coordinate with those tools, and may leave your system in an inconsistent state. You can use python get-pip.py --prefix=/usr/local/ to install in /usr/local which is designed for locally-installed software.

Ensure pip, setuptools, and wheel are up to date

While pip alone is sufficient to install from pre-built binary archives, up to date copies of the setuptools and wheel projects are useful to ensure you can also install from source archives:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel

Optionally, create a virtual environment

See :ref:`section below <Creating and using Virtual Environments>` for details, but here's the basic :doc:`venv <python:library/venv>` [3] command to use on a typical Linux system:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m venv tutorial_env
        source tutorial_env/bin/activate

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m venv tutorial_env
        tutorial_env\Scripts\activate

This will create a new virtual environment in the tutorial_env subdirectory, and configure the current shell to use it as the default python environment.

Creating Virtual Environments

Python "Virtual Environments" allow Python :term:`packages <Distribution Package>` to be installed in an isolated location for a particular application, rather than being installed globally. If you are looking to safely install global command line tools, see :doc:`/guides/installing-stand-alone-command-line-tools`.

Imagine you have an application that needs version 1 of LibFoo, but another application requires version 2. How can you use both these applications? If you install everything into /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages (or whatever your platform’s standard location is), it’s easy to end up in a situation where you unintentionally upgrade an application that shouldn’t be upgraded.

Or more generally, what if you want to install an application and leave it be? If an application works, any change in its libraries or the versions of those libraries can break the application.

Also, what if you can’t install :term:`packages <Distribution Package>` into the global site-packages directory? For instance, on a shared host.

In all these cases, virtual environments can help you. They have their own installation directories and they don’t share libraries with other virtual environments.

Currently, there are two common tools for creating Python virtual environments:

:doc:`venv <python:library/venv>` is available by default in Python 3.3 and later, and installs :ref:`pip` into created virtual environments in Python 3.4 and later (Python versions prior to 3.12 also installed :ref:`setuptools`).
:ref:`virtualenv` needs to be installed separately, but supports Python 2.7+ and Python 3.3+, and :ref:`pip`, :ref:`setuptools` and :ref:`wheel` are installed into created virtual environments by default. Note that setuptools is no longer included by default starting with Python 3.12 (and virtualenv follows this behavior).

The basic usage is like so:

Using :doc:`venv <python:library/venv>`:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m venv <DIR>
        source <DIR>/bin/activate

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m venv <DIR>
        <DIR>\Scripts\activate

Using :ref:`virtualenv`:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m virtualenv <DIR>
        source <DIR>/bin/activate

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        virtualenv <DIR>
        <DIR>\Scripts\activate

For more information, see the :doc:`venv <python:library/venv>` docs or the :doc:`virtualenv <virtualenv:index>` docs.

The use of :command:`source` under Unix shells ensures that the virtual environment's variables are set within the current shell, and not in a subprocess (which then disappears, having no useful effect).

In both of the above cases, Windows users should not use the :command:`source` command, but should rather run the :command:`activate` script directly from the command shell like so:

<DIR>\Scripts\activate

Managing multiple virtual environments directly can become tedious, so the :ref:`dependency management tutorial <managing-dependencies>` introduces a higher level tool, :ref:`Pipenv`, that automatically manages a separate virtual environment for each project and application that you work on.

Use pip for Installing

:ref:`pip` is the recommended installer. Below, we'll cover the most common usage scenarios. For more detail, see the :doc:`pip docs <pip:index>`, which includes a complete :doc:`Reference Guide <pip:cli/index>`.

Installing from PyPI

The most common usage of :ref:`pip` is to install from the :term:`Python Package Index <Python Package Index (PyPI)>` using a :term:`requirement specifier <Requirement Specifier>`. Generally speaking, a requirement specifier is composed of a project name followed by an optional :term:`version specifier <Version Specifier>`. A full description of the supported specifiers can be found in the :ref:`Version specifier specification <version-specifiers>`. Below are some examples.

To install the latest version of "SomeProject":

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install "SomeProject"

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install "SomeProject"

To install a specific version:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install "SomeProject==1.4"

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install "SomeProject==1.4"

To install greater than or equal to one version and less than another:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install "SomeProject>=1,<2"

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install "SomeProject>=1,<2"

To install a version that's :ref:`compatible <version-specifiers-compatible-release>` with a certain version: [4]

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install "SomeProject~=1.4.2"

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install "SomeProject~=1.4.2"

In this case, this means to install any version "==1.4.*" version that's also ">=1.4.2".

Source Distributions vs Wheels

:ref:`pip` can install from either :term:`Source Distributions (sdist) <Source Distribution (or "sdist")>` or :term:`Wheels <Wheel>`, but if both are present on PyPI, pip will prefer a compatible :term:`wheel <Wheel>`. You can override pip`s default behavior by e.g. using its :ref:`--no-binary <pip:install_--no-binary>` option.

:term:`Wheels <Wheel>` are a pre-built :term:`distribution <Distribution Package>` format that provides faster installation compared to :term:`Source Distributions (sdist) <Source Distribution (or "sdist")>`, especially when a project contains compiled extensions.

If :ref:`pip` does not find a wheel to install, it will locally build a wheel and cache it for future installs, instead of rebuilding the source distribution in the future.

Upgrading packages

Upgrade an already installed SomeProject to the latest from PyPI.

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install --upgrade SomeProject

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install --upgrade SomeProject

Installing to the User Site

To install :term:`packages <Distribution Package>` that are isolated to the current user, use the --user flag:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install --user SomeProject

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install --user SomeProject

For more information see the User Installs section from the pip docs.

Note that the --user flag has no effect when inside a virtual environment - all installation commands will affect the virtual environment.

If SomeProject defines any command-line scripts or console entry points, --user will cause them to be installed inside the user base's binary directory, which may or may not already be present in your shell's :envvar:`PATH`. (Starting in version 10, pip displays a warning when installing any scripts to a directory outside :envvar:`PATH`.) If the scripts are not available in your shell after installation, you'll need to add the directory to your :envvar:`PATH`:

On Linux and macOS you can find the user base binary directory by running python -m site --user-base and adding bin to the end. For example, this will typically print ~/.local (with ~ expanded to the absolute path to your home directory) so you'll need to add ~/.local/bin to your PATH. You can set your PATH permanently by modifying ~/.profile.
On Windows you can find the user base binary directory by running py -m site --user-site and replacing site-packages with Scripts. For example, this could return C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Python36\site-packages so you would need to set your PATH to include C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Python36\Scripts. You can set your user PATH permanently in the Control Panel. You may need to log out for the PATH changes to take effect.

Requirements files

Install a list of requirements specified in a :ref:`Requirements File <pip:Requirements Files>`.

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Installing from VCS

Install a project from VCS in "editable" mode. For a full breakdown of the syntax, see pip's section on :ref:`VCS Support <pip:VCS Support>`.

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install -e SomeProject @ git+https://git.repo/some_pkg.git          # from git
        python3 -m pip install -e SomeProject @ hg+https://hg.repo/some_pkg                # from mercurial
        python3 -m pip install -e SomeProject @ svn+svn://svn.repo/some_pkg/trunk/         # from svn
        python3 -m pip install -e SomeProject @ git+https://git.repo/some_pkg.git@feature  # from a branch

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install -e SomeProject @ git+https://git.repo/some_pkg.git          # from git
        py -m pip install -e SomeProject @ hg+https://hg.repo/some_pkg                # from mercurial
        py -m pip install -e SomeProject @ svn+svn://svn.repo/some_pkg/trunk/         # from svn
        py -m pip install -e SomeProject @ git+https://git.repo/some_pkg.git@feature  # from a branch

Installing from other Indexes

Install from an alternate index

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install --index-url http://my.package.repo/simple/ SomeProject

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install --index-url http://my.package.repo/simple/ SomeProject

Search an additional index during install, in addition to :term:`PyPI <Python Package Index (PyPI)>`

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install --extra-index-url http://my.package.repo/simple SomeProject

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install --extra-index-url http://my.package.repo/simple SomeProject

Installing from a local src tree

Installing from local src in :doc:`Development Mode <setuptools:userguide/development_mode>`, i.e. in such a way that the project appears to be installed, but yet is still editable from the src tree.

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install -e <path>

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install -e <path>

You can also install normally from src

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install <path>

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install <path>

Installing from local archives

Install a particular source archive file.

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install ./downloads/SomeProject-1.0.4.tar.gz

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install ./downloads/SomeProject-1.0.4.tar.gz

Install from a local directory containing archives (and don't check :term:`PyPI <Python Package Index (PyPI)>`)

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install --no-index --find-links=file:///local/dir/ SomeProject
        python3 -m pip install --no-index --find-links=/local/dir/ SomeProject
        python3 -m pip install --no-index --find-links=relative/dir/ SomeProject

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install --no-index --find-links=file:///local/dir/ SomeProject
        py -m pip install --no-index --find-links=/local/dir/ SomeProject
        py -m pip install --no-index --find-links=relative/dir/ SomeProject

Installing from other sources

To install from other data sources (for example Amazon S3 storage) you can create a helper application that presents the data in a format compliant with the :ref:`simple repository API <simple-repository-api>`:, and use the --extra-index-url flag to direct pip to use that index.

./s3helper --port=7777
python -m pip install --extra-index-url http://localhost:7777 SomeProject

Installing Prereleases

Find pre-release and development versions, in addition to stable versions. By default, pip only finds stable versions.

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install --pre SomeProject

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install --pre SomeProject

Installing "Extras"

Extras are optional "variants" of a package, which may include additional dependencies, and thereby enable additional functionality from the package. If you wish to install an extra for a package which you know publishes one, you can include it in the pip installation command:

.. tab:: Unix/macOS

    .. code-block:: bash

        python3 -m pip install 'SomePackage[PDF]'
        python3 -m pip install 'SomePackage[PDF]==3.0'
        python3 -m pip install -e '.[PDF]'  # editable project in current directory

.. tab:: Windows

    .. code-block:: bat

        py -m pip install "SomePackage[PDF]"
        py -m pip install "SomePackage[PDF]==3.0"
        py -m pip install -e ".[PDF]"  # editable project in current directory

[1]	"Secure" in this context means using a modern browser or a tool like :command:`curl` that verifies SSL certificates when downloading from https URLs.

[2]	Depending on your platform, this may require root or Administrator access. :ref:`pip` is currently considering changing this by making user installs the default behavior.

[3]	Beginning with Python 3.4, `venv` (a stdlib alternative to :ref:`virtualenv`) will create virtualenv environments with `pip` pre-installed, thereby making it an equal alternative to :ref:`virtualenv`.

[4]	The compatible release specifier was accepted in PEP 440 and support was released in :ref:`setuptools` v8.0 and :ref:`pip` v6.0

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Installing Packages

Requirements for Installing Packages

Ensure you can run Python from the command line

Ensure you can run pip from the command line

Ensure pip, setuptools, and wheel are up to date

Optionally, create a virtual environment

Creating Virtual Environments

Use pip for Installing

Installing from PyPI

Source Distributions vs Wheels

Upgrading packages

Installing to the User Site

Requirements files

Installing from VCS

Installing from other Indexes

Installing from a local src tree

Installing from local archives

Installing from other sources

Installing Prereleases

Installing "Extras"

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Installing Packages

Requirements for Installing Packages

Ensure you can run Python from the command line

Ensure you can run pip from the command line

Ensure pip, setuptools, and wheel are up to date

Optionally, create a virtual environment

Creating Virtual Environments

Use pip for Installing

Installing from PyPI

Source Distributions vs Wheels

Upgrading packages

Installing to the User Site

Requirements files

Installing from VCS

Installing from other Indexes

Installing from a local src tree

Installing from local archives

Installing from other sources

Installing Prereleases

Installing "Extras"