Why isn't pip updating my numpy and scipy?

Question

My problem is that pip won\'t update my Python Packages, even though there are no errors.

It is similar to this one, but I am still now sure what to do. Basically, ALL

Answer 1

Old question, but I found it when trying to solve this issue, will post my solution.

I found @abarnert's diagnosis to be correct and helpful, but I don't like any of the solutions: I really want to upgrade the default version of numpy. The challenge is that the directory these guys are in (which @abarnert mentioned) cannot be touched even by sudo, as they are in this "wheel" group. In fact, if you go there and do sudo rm -rf blah, it will give you a permission denied error.

To get around this, we have to take drastic action:

1. Reboot the computer in recovery mode
2. Find the terminal and type csrutil disable
3. Reboot normally, then upgrade numpy with pip2 install --user --upgrade numpy (and same for any other packages that have this problem)
4. Repeat steps a and b, this time changing "disable" to "enable"

Note: "csrutil disable" is serious business that can destabilize your machine, I would use it only when absolutely necessary and re-enable it ASAP. But AFAIK it's the only way to upgrade Python packages in a wheel directory.