How to install pip for python 3 in ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Question

I am trying to install the Pillow module for python 3.3, but for that I need to install pip. Every time that I install pip it installs for python 2.7, any help?

Answer 1

While on more modern versions of Ubuntu you could just sudo apt-get install python3-pip (and then use pip3), a Python 3 copy of pip was never packaged for 12.04.

Therefore you need to follow the more old fashioned install route with easy_install:

sudo apt-get install python3-setuptools
sudo easy_install3 pip

Now, there is every chance that this will clash with Python 2's pip and override /usr/bin/pip, because it will install a python3 based /usr/local/bin/pip which is also in Ubuntu 12.04's $PATH.

It shouldn't overwrite it so as long as you know that, it might be acceptable. However it might be best to start investigating the happy world of virtualenv as this answer suggests.

Alternatively you could rename the easy-installed python3 version of pip:

sudo mv /usr/local/bin/pip /usr/local/bin/pip-3

Then you can confirm your existing pip is still python2.7 based:

pip --version

Answer 2

You may also install it by sudo apt-get install python3-pip and then call it by pip3. Et voilà

Answer 3

If you work with several versions of python on the same machine, it might be useful to work with virtual environments. This allows you to work with as many instances of python you want, each with their own set of packages. This is very useful if you're working with several versions of python, and/or if your projects require different versions of the same package(s).

To set this up:

sudo pip install virtualenv 

This can be done with ANY pip, so also with the standard pip using python 2.7. Then, to make a virtual environment with python3 as the interpreter, do:

virtualenv my_py3 --python=/usr/bin/python3
source my_py3/bin/activate # to activate the python3 environemt

Then install any packages you might want using

pip install <package> # no sudo required now, as you're IN the virtual environment

To stop the virtual environment, simple type:

deactivate

Answer 4

After installing python 3.3 using a PPA for Ubuntu 12.04, I installed easy_install 3.3 using locally using the following commands

wget http://python-distribute.org/distribute_setup.py
python3.3 -m distribute_setup install --user
easy_install-3.3 --user pip

This avoids polluting the site's installation of pip and easy_install. Finally, I added $HOME/.local/bin to my path. Now I can run pip3.3!

Answer 5

To add to dmeu's answer, you may have to update your /etc/apt/sources.list to include mirrors from a more recent repository, such as trusty.

sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-get update

To clarify on what Long-term support means, it does not necessarily mean that they are keeping precise up-to-date with the latest and greatest software. Sure, you will get a few updates from it, but then you'll have cases where certain packages don't exist, like python3-pip, which does exist in the trusty repo, for example.

What LTS means, is that they are keeping precise on the main repo, so that your package manager doesn't break. This will ultimately give you a chance perform an apt-get update, upgrade, and dist-upgrade when 12.04 finally becomes obsolete. They call it support, rather than cutting-edge, for a reason.

If the apt-get route still doesn't work, you may also try downloading a .deb package of python3-pip, and using dpkg, a.k.a. the debian package manager, to install it

sudo dpkg -i <name-of-package>.deb

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

by now my favorite option is to install anaconda or miniconda for python3: https://www.continuum.io/downloads

Any package can be installed by conda install package-name

If you need python2, you can create a virtual environment:

conda create -n python2 python=2.7 anaconda source activate python2

See details here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/24415581/551694