Re: Pip installs to unexpected place

On 2025-04-16, Mats Wichmann via Python-list <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 4/15/25 16:07, Grant Edwards via Python-list wrote:
>> On 2025-04-15, Thomas Passin via Python-list <[email protected]> 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