Permission denied with pip install --user -e /home/me/package/

Question

I am trying to install local package in --editable mode using pip. When I issue the command...

$ python3.7 -m pip install --user -e /home/me/my_pkg/

...it correctly installs all of the dependencies, but then when it tries to install my_pkg itself, I get the following...

  Running setup.py develop for udar
    Running command /usr/bin/python3.7 -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'/home/me/my_pkg/setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'/home/me/my_pkg/setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' develop --no-deps --user --prefix=
    running develop
    WARNING: The user site-packages directory is disabled.
    error: can't create or remove files in install directory

    The following error occurred while trying to add or remove files in the
    installation directory:

        [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/test-easy-install-901889.write-test'

    The installation directory you specified (via --install-dir, --prefix, or
    the distutils default setting) was:

        /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/

    Perhaps your account does not have write access to this directory?  If the
    installation directory is a system-owned directory, you may need to sign in
    as the administrator or "root" account.  If you do not have administrative
    access to this machine, you may wish to choose a different installation
    directory, preferably one that is listed in your PYTHONPATH environment
    variable.

    For information on other options, you may wish to consult the
    documentation at:

      https://setuptools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/easy_install.html

    Please make the appropriate changes for your system and try again.

ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1: /usr/bin/python3.7 -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'/home/me/my_pkg/setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'/home/me/my_pkg/setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' develop --no-deps --user --prefix= Check the logs for full command output.
Exception information:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/pip/_internal/cli/base_command.py", line 180, in _main
    status = self.run(options, args)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py", line 204, in wrapper
    return func(self, options, args)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/pip/_internal/commands/install.py", line 402, in run
    pycompile=options.compile,
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/pip/_internal/req/__init__.py", line 85, in install_given_reqs
    pycompile=pycompile,
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/pip/_internal/req/req_install.py", line 768, in install
    unpacked_source_directory=self.unpacked_source_directory,
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/pip/_internal/operations/install/editable_legacy.py", line 46, in install_editable
    cwd=unpacked_source_directory,
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/pip/_internal/utils/subprocess.py", line 244, in call_subprocess
    raise InstallationSubprocessError(proc.returncode, command_desc)
pip._internal.exceptions.InstallationSubprocessError: Command errored out with exit status 1: /usr/bin/python3.7 -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'/home/me/my_pkg/setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'/home/me/my_pkg/setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'\r\n'"'"', '"'"'\n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' develop --no-deps --user --prefix= Check the logs for full command output.
Removed build tracker: '/tmp/pip-req-tracker-hvg66sl4'

I don't understand how I can be getting a permission error with the --user flag. I do not want to install this package globally, so using sudo pip install ... is not an option. How do I get pip to install an editable package for only the current user?

$ python3.7 -m pip --version
pip 21.1.1 from /home/rob/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pip (python 3.7)

Answer 1

It's a bug. The issue is being tracked at https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/7953 .

The workaround for now is to modify your setup.py() to contain this:

import site
import sys
site.ENABLE_USER_SITE = "--user" in sys.argv[1:]

Or to use something like this on the command line, if you use setup.cfg or pyproject.toml:

$ python3 -c 'import setuptools, site, sys; site.ENABLE_USER_SITE = 1; sys.argv[1:] = ["develop", "--user"]; setuptools.setup()'

Answer 2

From the discussion linked by Clément (https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/7953), the following works for me:

$ pip install --prefix=~/.local -e .