pip: dealing with multiple Python versions?

Question

Is there any way to make pip play well with multiple versions of Python? For example, I want to use pip to explicitly install things to either my site 2.5 installation or my site 2.6 installation.

For example, with easy_install, I use easy_install-2.{5,6}.

And, yes — I know about virtualenv, and no — it's not a solution to this particular problem.

Answer 1

In Windows, you can execute the pip module by mentioning the python version ( You need to ensure that the launcher is on your path )

py -3.4 -m pip install pyfora

py -2.7 -m pip install pyfora

Alternatively, you can call the desired python executable directly like this:

/path/to/python.exe -m pip install pyfora

Answer 2

Other answers show how to use pip with both 2.X and 3.X Python, but does not show how to handle the case of multiple Python distributions (eg. original Python and Anaconda Python).

I have a total of 3 Python versions: original Python 2.7 and Python 3.5 and Anaconda Python 3.5.

Here is how I install a package into:

1. Original Python 3.5:

   /usr/bin/python3 -m pip install python-daemon
   

2. Original Python 2.7:

   /usr/bin/python -m pip install python-daemon
   

3. Anaconda Python 3.5:

   python3 -m pip install python-daemon
   

   or

   pip3 install python-daemon
   

   Simpler, as Anaconda overrides original Python binaries in user environment.

   Of course, installing in anaconda should be done with conda command, this is just an example.

---

Also, make sure that pip is installed for that specific python.You might need to manually install pip. This works in Ubuntu 16.04:

sudo apt-get install python-pip 

or

sudo apt-get install python3-pip

Answer 3

I ran into this issue myself recently and found that I wasn't getting the right pip for Python 3, on my Linux system that also has Python 2.

First you must ensure that you have installed pip for your python version:

For Python 2:

sudo apt-get install python-pip

For Python 3:

sudo apt-get install python3-pip

Then to install packages for one version of Python or the other, simply use the following for Python 2:

pip install <package>

or for Python 3:

pip3 install <package>

Answer 4

The current recommendation is to use python -m pip, where python is the version of Python you would like to use. This is the recommendation because it works across all versions of Python, and in all forms of virtualenv. For example:

# The system default python:
$ python -m pip install fish

# A virtualenv's python:
$ .env/bin/python -m pip install fish

# A specific version of python:
$ python-3.6 -m pip install fish

Previous answer, left for posterity:

Since version 0.8, Pip supports pip-{version}. You can use it the same as easy_install-{version}:

$ pip-2.5 install myfoopackage
$ pip-2.6 install otherpackage
$ pip-2.7 install mybarpackage

---

EDIT: pip changed its schema to use pipVERSION instead of pip-VERSION in version 1.5. You should use the following if you have pip >= 1.5:

$ pip2.6 install otherpackage
$ pip2.7 install mybarpackage

Check https://github.com/pypa/pip/pull/1053 for more details

---

References:

• https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/200
• http://www.pip-installer.org/docs/pip/en/0.8.3/news.html#id4

Answer 5

On Linux, Mac OS X and other POSIX systems, use the versioned Python commands in combination with the -m switch to run the appropriate copy of pip:

python2.7 -m pip install SomePackage
python3.4 -m pip install SomePackage

(appropriately versioned pip commands may also be available)

On Windows, use the py Python launcher in combination with the -m switch:

py -2.7 -m pip install SomePackage  # specifically Python 2.7
py -3.4 -m pip install SomePackage  # specifically Python 3.4

if you get an error for py -3.4 then try:

pip install SomePackage

Answer 6

/path/to/python2.{5,6} /path/to/pip install PackageName doesn't work?

For this to work on any python version that doesn't have pip already installed you need to download pip and do python*version* setup.py install. For example python3.3 setup.py install. This resolves the import error in the comments. (As suggested by @hbdgaf)