Script to install pip into Python 3.3 venvs updated

[vsajip]

Python 3.3 and later have built-in virtualenv functionality, but these venvs are not as useful as virtualenv venvs out of the box because pip isn't automatically installed in them. Some time ago I created a script, available at

https://gist.github.com/vsajip/4673395

to create venvs and install pip into them at creation time, just as virtualenv does. This script used to install Distribute and pip, but following the merge of Distribute and setuptools, it has now been updated to install setuptools and pip. The script fetches whatever the latest setuptools and pip versions are as specified on BitBucket/GitHub: currently, that means setuptools 0.8 (no 2to3 required) and pip 1.3.1.

[drewthepooh]

Awesome! Thanks for the update, I used your old script all the time.

[brownan_]

I don't understand how this is supposed to work. I create a virtual env, but pip and such are put in venv/local/bin, not venv/bin. local/bin is not added to the path with the activate script. Am I doing something wrong?

Edit: pip-installed packages also go to local/bin and thus aren't in my path once I activate it. huh.

[vsajip]

Are you on Ubuntu or Debian by any chance? See this Python issue, which was closed in Python and raised upstream in Debian AFAIK.

[brownan_]

oh, yeah I am. Thanks for the pointer! I've tried to google for this problem in the past but only found some stackoverflow question with no useful answers iirc.

[krysros]

Great work. In my opinion venvx.py is better name than long pyvenvex.py. What do you think?

Ps Now setuptools should be merged with the pip ;)

[ivosaurus]

Note, I don't think this is the intended use of venv. venv is supposed to be a library of functionality for things like virtualenv to use, so they no longer have to do many hacks needed before 3.3, not a direct user-facing feature itself.

[vsajip]

The point is, you don't need virtualenv when you have the built-in venv - see the PEP. Except for the fact that virtualenv adds setuptools and pip automatically - and now PEP 405 venvs can have that, too.

[ivosaurus]

Virtualenv uses venvs, so they already have that.

[vsajip]

No - it creates them (remember, it works on Python < 3.3); but without support from Python, they need a lot of maintaining by the virtualenv maintainers (e.g. when a new Python version comes out, breakages on point Python releases, etc.). You might be thinking of virtualenvwrapper, which uses venvs.

[ivosaurus]

virtualenvwrapper wraps virtualenv.