Is it acceptable and safe to run pip install under sudo

Question

I ve started to use my Mac to install Python packages in the same way I do with my Windows PC at work  however on my Mac I ve come across frequent permission denied errors while writing to log files or site-packages   Therefore I thought about running pip install  lt package gt  under sudo but is that a safe acceptable use of sudo considering I m just wanting this to be installed under my current user account   Example traceback from a logfile I O error   Command  usr bin python -c  import setuptools   file     Users markwalker build pycrypto setup py  exec compile open   file    read   replace   r n     n      file     exec     install --single-version-externally-managed --record  var folders tq hy1fz 4j27v6rstzzw4vymnr0000gp T pip-k6f2FU-record install-record txt failed with error code 1 in  Users markwalker build pycrypto Storing complete log in  Users markwalker Library Logs pip log Traceback  most recent call last     File   usr local bin pip   line 8  in  lt module gt      load entry point  pip  1 1    console scripts    pip       File   Library Python 2 7 site-packages pip-1 1-py2 7 egg pip   init   py   line 116  in main     return command main args 1    options    File   Library Python 2 7 site-packages pip-1 1-py2 7 egg pip basecommand py   line 141  in main     log fp   open logfile log fn   w     File   Library Python 2 7 site-packages pip-1 1-py2 7 egg pip basecommand py   line 168  in open logfile     log fp   open filename  mode  IOError   Errno 13  Permission denied    Users markwalker Library Logs pip log    Update This was likely down to permissions  however the best approach is to use virtual environments for your python projects  Running sudo pip should be avoided unless absolutely necessary

User · Answer

Your original problem is that pip cannot write the logs to the folder.

IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/Users/markwalker/Library/Logs/pip.log'

You need to cd into a folder in which the process invoked can write like /tmp so a cd /tmp and re invoking the command will probably work but is not what you want.

BUT actually for this particular case (you not wanting to use sudo for installing python packages) and no need for global package installs you can use the --user flag like this :

pip install --user <packagename>

and it will work just fine.

I assume you have a one user python python installation and do not want to bother with reading about virtualenv (which is not very userfriendly) or pipenv.

As some people in the comments section have pointed out the next approach is not a very good idea unless you do not know what to do and got stuck:

Another approach for global packages like in your case you want to do something like :

chown -R $USER /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/

or more generally

chown -R $USER <path to your global pip packages>

User · Answer

I had a problem installing virtualenvwrapper after successfully installing virtualenv   My terminal complained after I did this   pip install virtualenvwrapper   So  I unsuccessfully tried this  NOT RECOMMENDED    sudo pip install virtualenvwrapper   Then  I successfully installed it with this   pip install --user virtualenvwrapper

User · Answer

Use a virtual environment     virtualenv myenv    some output      source myenv bin activate  myenv    pip install what-i-want   You only use sudo or elevated permissions when you want to install stuff for the global  system-wide Python installation   It is best to use a virtual environment which isolates packages for you   That way you can play around without polluting the global python install   As a bonus  virtualenv does not need elevated permissions

User · Answer

It looks like your permissions are messed up  Type chown -R markwalker   in the Terminal and try pip again  Let me know if you re sorted

User · Answer

Is it acceptable  amp  safe to run pip install under sudo    It s not safe and it s being frowned upon     see What are the risks of running  sudo pip   To install Python package in your home directory you don t need root privileges  See description of --user option to pip

User · Answer

Because I had the same problem  I want to stress that actually the first comment by Brian Cain is the solution to the  IOError   Errno 13  -problem   If executed in the temp directory  cd  tmp   the IOError does not occur anymore if I run sudo pip install foo

[python] Is it acceptable and safe to run pip install under sudo?

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