Re: Pip installs to unexpected place

On 2025-04-16, Mats Wichmann via Python-list <python-list@python.org> wrote:

On 4/15/25 16:07, Grant Edwards via Python-list wrote:

On 2025-04-15, Thomas Passin via Python-list <python-list@python.org> wrote:
 

On Linux, at least, it's standard for pip to install into the user's
site-packages location if it's not invoked with admin privileges - even
without --user. Pip will emit a message saying so. Well, that used to be
true but nowadays Pip wants you to use the --break-system-packages flag
if you want to insist on installing into the system's Python install,
even if it's going to go into --user.

 
I've always been a little baffled by that message when installing with
--user.  How can that possibly break system stuff?

>
Your user install dir is in your python path, so when you go to run an
installed Python program which imports other packages, it might pick up
the version you have in your user space rather than the system one it
was tested with.

Yes, I understand that. But that's breaking stuff for the user not for
the system.  Of course installing stuff for the user can break stuff
for the user.  I don't need a warning to tell me that.

Also... when installing stuff with pip --user, it is always a package
that is not installed for the system (usually not even available for
the system). How can that "break system packages"?

--
Grant