Error after upgrading pip: cannot import name 'main'

Question

Whenever I am trying to install any package using pip, I am getting this import error:

guru@guru-notebook:~$ pip3 install numpy
Traceback (most recent call l         


        

Answer 1

import main from pip._internal

from pip._internal import main

Edit the pip code from

sudo nano /usr/bin/pip3

Answer 2

Use the following command before the execution of any pip command

hash -d pip

It will work

Answer 3

What worked for me to fix the error with using pip3 was:

sudo cp -v /usr/local/bin/pip3 /usr/bin/pip3

Everything works:

 demon@UbuntuHP:~$ pip -V
 pip 10.0.1 from /usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/pip (python 3.5)

 demon@UbuntuHP:~$ pip2 -V
 pip 10.0.1 from /home/demon/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pip (python 2.7)

 demon@UbuntuHP:~$ pip3 -V
 pip 10.0.1 from /usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/pip (python 3.5)

Maybe the new 10.0.1 version of pip doesn't update the binary in /usr/bin ? (which seems it does not)

EDIT: the same issue occurs in Ubuntu 18.04. The best solution I've found is to symlink the pip binaries from /home/<user/.local/bin to /usr/local/bin or /usr/bin (depending on your preference), as follows:

ln -sv /home/<user>/.local/bin/pip /usr/local/bin/pip
ln -sv /home/<user>/.local/bin/pip2 /usr/local/bin/pip2
ln -sv /home/<user>/.local/bin/pip2.7 /usr/local/bin/pip2.7
ln -sv /home/<user>/.local/bin/pip3 /usr/local/bin/pip3
ln -sv /home/<user>/.local/bin/pip3.6 /usr/local/bin/pip3.6

NOTE: replace <user> with your current running user

The associated versions (latest) are in:

Version 3.6:

/home/demon/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip (python 3.6)

Version 2.7:

/home/demon/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pip (python 2.7)

Answer 4

Is something wrong with the packages, when it generating de file /usr/bin/pip, you have to change the import:

from pip import main

to

from pip._internal import main

That solves the problem, I'm not sure why it generated, but it saids somthing in the following issue:

After pip 10 upgrade on pyenv "ImportError: cannot import name 'main'"

Answer 5

On Debian you will need to update apt first....

sudo apt-get update -qq
sudo apt-get install python-pip -qq
sudo pip install pip --upgrade --quiet
sudo pip2 install virtualenv --quiet

If you skip 'sudo apt-get update -qq' your pip will become corrupt and display the 'cannot find main' error.

Answer 6

This error may be a permission one. So, test executing the command with -H flag:

sudo -H pip3 install numpy