"ssl module in Python is not available" when installing package with pip3

Question

I've install Python 3.4 and Python 3.6 on my local machine successfully, but am unable to install packages with pip3.

When I execute pip3 install <package>, I get the following SSL related error:

pip is configured with locations that require TLS/SSL, however the ssl module in Python is not available.
Collecting <package>
  Could not fetch URL https://pypi.python.org/simple/<package>/: There was a problem confirming the ssl certificate: Can't connect to HTTPS URL because the SSL module is not available. - skipping
  Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement <package> (from versions: )
No matching distribution found for <package>

How can I fix my Python3.x install so that I can install packages with pip install <package>?

Answer 1

Step by step guide to install Python 3.6 and pip3 in Ubuntu

1. Install the necessary packages for Python and ssl: $ sudo apt-get install libreadline-gplv2-dev libncursesw5-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev libbz2-dev

2. Download and unzip "Python-3.6.8.tar.xz" from https://www.python.org/ftp/python/ into your home directory.

3. Open terminal in that directory and run: $ ./configure

4. Build and install: $ make && sudo make install

5. Install packages with: $ pip3 install package_name

Disclaimer: The above commands are not tested in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Answer 2

If you are on Windows and use anaconda this worked for me:

I tried a lot of other solutions which did not work (Environment PATH Variable changes ...)

The problem can be caused by DLLs in the Windows\System32 folder (e.g. libcrypto-1_1-x64.dll or libssl-1_1-x64.dll or others) placed there by other software.

The fix was installing openSSL from https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html which replaces the dlls by more recent versions.