Python PIP

Last Updated: 7/21/2024

PIP is short for Preferred Installer Program. PIP, is a package manager used to install python modules. Python modules are used to provide additional functionality. Once functionality for a object/class has been created a module holding that code/functionality can be stored as a package. This allows solutions to becomes reusable. This then allows for the development and maintenance of a library of pre built solutions. The modules are stored (generally) either in the form of source material which can build the module, or as a wheel.

A wheel is the standard for packaging the pythonic solution. A wheel is really a TAR archive that uses a specific/uniform layout. Most wheels are going to have elements that provide for the “setup”. This might include a readme, licensing information, and a list of required modules.

There are a number of different wheel types. I am going to describes wheels in a general sense. There might be those that want to argue and split hairs.

* Universal Wheels – Includes a pythonic solution that is universally accepted across python implementations.
* Platform Wheels – A wheel that has components that are specific to a family (ex. ARM) often a specific hardware platform. Often this might be used to “optimize” performance or take advantage of specific features rather that contend with a otherwise generic, or perhaps otherwise suboptimal solution.

PyPi or the Python Package Index is generally the generally accepted repository at large for pythonic solutions. Pip can be configured in a number of ways. The default is for it to pull modules from PyPi. See: PyPi

PIP List

C:\Users\user>pip list
Package         Version
--------------- -------
pip             21.1.1
python-dateutil 2.8.1
pytz            2021.1
setuptools      56.0.0
six             1.16.0
WARNING: You are using pip version 21.1.1; however, version 21.1.2 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'c:\program files\python310\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip' command.

PIP Upgrade

Please note: That you can use the upgrade call to upgrade other python modules as well, such as pandas, numpy, nxlm … not just pip.

python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip'

Example:

Windows system where username is “user”. Note the command “pip config list” list how pip is configured on the system. It is OFTEN the case that you might want to set some variables please note the system below the “pip-version-check” has been disabled.

C:\Users\User>pip config set global.disable-pip-version-check true
Writing to C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\pip\pip.ini

Config list

C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\pip>pip config list
global.disable-pip-version-check='true'
global.index="'http://localhost:8080'"
global.index-url='http://localhost:8080/simple'
global.trusted-host='pypi.org'

My reference to set config

pip config set global.disable-pip-version-check true
pip config set global.index http://localhost:8080
pip config set global.index-url http://localhost:8080
pip config set global.trusted-host pypi.org

PIP Upgrade package

Example of how to upgrade the “attrs” package. Note that this does use the install “command”

pip install upgrade --attrs

Where does PIP live in a Windows environment.

This example is for a user based install. Pip places a “pip.exe” file in the Scripts directory

C:\Users\User>where pip.exe
C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\Scripts\pip.exe