"can't combine user with prefix" trying to create zip package for function with dependencies

Question

I am trying to make a deployment package with additional dependencies as per this guide https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/lambda-python-how-to-create-deployment-package.html

I am doing this as a test, to see how simple it is. So i decided to try and import the first package that popped into my mind which was tldextract.

The guide tells me to make a fir called package, go into that package and then type "pip3 install tldextract --target ."

However, I get an error message: distutils.errors.DistutilsOptionError: can't combine user with prefix, exec_prefix/home, or install_(plat)base

I have searched through this: Combine --user with --prefix error with setup.py install But to no avail.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/basecommand.py", line 215, in main
    status = self.run(options, args)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/install.py", line 360, in run
    prefix=options.prefix_path,
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req/req_set.py", line 784, in install
    **kwargs
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req/req_install.py", line 851, in install
    self.move_wheel_files(self.source_dir, root=root, prefix=prefix)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req/req_install.py", line 1064, in move_wheel_files
    isolated=self.isolated,
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/wheel.py", line 247, in move_wheel_files
    prefix=prefix,
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/locations.py", line 153, in distutils_scheme
    i.finalize_options()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/distutils/command/install.py", line 274, in finalize_options
    raise DistutilsOptionError("can't combine user with prefix, "
distutils.errors.DistutilsOptionError: can't combine user with prefix, exec_prefix/home, or install_(plat)base```

Answer 1

You may have moved passed this, but just in case it helps (this drove me up a wall for the last half hour):

I'm running Debian and was trying to install pymysql, but try issuing the command with sudo:

 sudo pip3 install tldextract --target .

I don't know why this worked yet, but will update with more info if I come across any. Files were installed in my local directory owned by root, which is unfortunate, but chown fixed that.