installing modules in python - pip, distribute, nose, virtualenv

Question

I'm aware that there are similar questions on SO. This one, for example: What's the proper way to install pip, virtualenv, and distribute for Python?

I'd like to install these modules as per my Learn Python the Hard Way tutorial: http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/ex46.html

I managed (I think) to install pip by using sudo easy_install pip but when I then ran pydoc modules I could not see it. So I'm not even sure it's installed.

The answer above in question 4324558 is difficult for me to understand: what's a bootstrap, what's curl and why would I set up a virtual environment? Yes, as a learner I should try to pick up as much as I can but I don't want to first create the universe, I just want to get the task at hand done.

How do I install these modules? Is it as complicated as it sounds in the quoted answer? The top voted answer says "Install virtualenv into a bootstrap virtual environment. Use the that virtual environment to create more. Since virtualenv ships with pip and distribute, you get everything from one install."

I really don't get what all that means. Isn't there something about the "Zen" of python and a one true way to get things done? Or am I out of context here? What is "the right way" to install these modules?

I tried: pip install virtualenv in the terminal and received the following output:

Wheel installs require setuptools >= 0.8 for dist-info support.
pip's wheel support requires setuptools >= 0.8 for dist-info support.
Storing debug log for failure in /Users/myname/.pip/pip.log

I'm using a Mac and python 2.7

Answer 1

To solve your issue,

Just install (or upgrade) the setuptools:

sudo easy_install -U setuptools

Then you can run again: pip install virtualenv

Answer 2

Try adding 'sudo' in your command as-

sudo pip install virtualenv

It worked for me.

Answer 3

Have a look at Python Development Environment on Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9 .

I followed these steps as well when trying to get Python 2.7 and Python 3.3 installed on OS X. It doesn't tell you how to install nose and distribute, but you should have a working environment and you can pick up from there.

I did have a problem using virtualenv and pip with Python 3, the question and solutions is available here .