pip install into virtualenv from github using -e option fails to add package to python path

Question

I am trying to install a package from my github in "editable" (-e) mode to be able to easily work on the repository whilst using it.

However it is causing problems because its not available in the python path after I install it.

With a fresh, clean virtualenv "publisher" created and activated, I run the following:

pip install -e git+https://github.com/roberts81/easy-thumbnails.git#egg=easy_thumbnails
Obtaining easy-thumbnails from git+https://github.com/roberts81/easy-thumbnails.git#egg=easy_thumbnails
  Cloning https://github.com/roberts81/easy-thumbnails.git to /Users/ben/Envs/publisher/src/easy-thumbnails
  Running setup.py egg_info for package easy-thumbnails

    no previously-included directories found matching 'docs/_build'
Installing collected packages: easy-thumbnails
  Running setup.py develop for easy-thumbnails

    no previously-included directories found matching 'docs/_build'
    Creating /Users/ben/Envs/publisher/lib/python2.7/site-packages/easy-thumbnails.egg-link (link to .)
    Adding easy-thumbnails 1.2 to easy-install.pth file

    Installed /Users/ben/Envs/publisher/src/easy-thumbnails
Successfully installed easy-thumbnails
Cleaning up...

Then if I run python (still in my virtualenv) and try to import anything from that package, It fails.

Python 2.7.2 (default, Jun 20 2012, 16:23:33) 
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple Clang 4.0 (tags/Apple/clang-418.0.60)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import easy_thumbnails
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: No module named easy_thumbnails
>>> 

If I install it without the -e option, everything works dandy. I get the same effect (i.e. they aren't on the python path after installing them) with other repo's, e.g. pip install -e git+http://github.com/django/django.git@stable/1.5.x#egg=django . So what gives?

One thing I'm noticing is that it doesn't seem to be actually updating the easy-install.pth file even though it says it is... something odd going on here.

But if i run it (the pip install... command) with sudo, it works! Also I can install the package globally (outside the virtualenv, with sudo of course) and that works.

Versions:

pip==1.2.1 virtualenv==1.8.4 virtualenvwrapper==3.6 python==2.7.2 Mac OSX 10.8.2

Answer 1

This might seem silly now since the question has been answered, and this addresses a different issue -- but this was the solution for me when I got this error. (I'm hoping this will help others)

Make sure that you have a __init__.py file in place. The structure should resemble this:

/myprojectname
  /myprojectname
    __init__.py
    mymodule.py
  setup.py

Then run "pip install -e ." from within the top level myprojectname folder, everything works. I forgot the __init__.py in my case, and forgot that this is a possible cause for that message.

Answer 2

Working for me with pip 1.2.1 and virtualenv 1.8.4:

$ virtualenv -p python2.7 venv
Running virtualenv with interpreter /usr/local/bin/python2.7
New python executable in venv/bin/python
Installing setuptools............done.
Installing pip...............done.

$ source venv/bin/activate

$ pip install -e git+https://github.com/roberts81/easy-thumbnails.git#egg=easy_thumbnails
Obtaining easy-thumbnails from git+https://github.com/roberts81/easy-thumbnails.git#egg=easy_thumbnails
  Cloning https://github.com/roberts81/easy-thumbnails.git to ./venv/src/easy-thumbnails
  Running setup.py egg_info for package easy-thumbnails

    no previously-included directories found matching 'docs/_build'
Installing collected packages: easy-thumbnails
  Running setup.py develop for easy-thumbnails

    no previously-included directories found matching 'docs/_build'
    Creating /Users/jterrace/test/venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/easy-thumbnails.egg-link (link to .)
    Adding easy-thumbnails 1.2 to easy-install.pth file

    Installed /Users/jterrace/test/venv/src/easy-thumbnails
Successfully installed easy-thumbnails
Cleaning up...

$ python
Python 2.7.3 (default, Nov 12 2012, 09:50:25) 
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple Clang 4.1 ((tags/Apple/clang-421.11.66))] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import easy_thumbnails
>>> easy_thumbnails.VERSION
'1.2'

Answer 3

I had a similar problem and solved it by removing my virtualenv, recreating it, activating it, and then (before doing anything else) updating pip and setuptools in the environment. Start by opening a new terminal window (to make sure the virtual env is not activated) and navigate to the directory above where your virtualenv lives. Then do:

rm -rf env
virtualenv env
. env/bin/activate
pip install -U pip setuptools

After this I was able to install the package from GitHub (using pip) and was able to import it in python.