Pip is a
package-management system written in
Python and is used to install and manage
software packages.
The
Python Software Foundation recommends using pip for installing Python applications and its dependencies during deployment. Pip connects to an
online repository of public packages, called the
Python Package Index. Pip can be configured to connect to other package repositories (local or remote), provided that they comply to
Python Enhancement Proposal 503.
Most distributions of Python come with pip preinstalled. Python 2.7.9 and later (on the python2 series), and Python 3.4 and later include pip by default.
History
First introduced as pyinstall in 2008 by Ian Bicking (the creator of the virtualenv package) as an alternative to
easy install,
pip was chosen as the new name from one of several suggestions that the creator received on his blog post. According to Bicking himself, the name is a
recursive acronym for "Pip Installs Packages". In 2011, the Python Packaging Authority (PyPA) was created to take over the maintenance of pip and virtualenv from Bicking, led by Carl Meyer, Brian Rosner, and Jannis Leidel.
With the release of pip version 6.0 (2014-12-22), the version naming process was changed to have version in X.Y format and drop the preceding 1 from the version label.
Command-line interface

Pip's
command-line interface allows the install of Python software packages by issuing a command:
pip install some-package-name
Users can also remove the package by issuing a command:
pip uninstall some-package-name
Pip has a feature to manage full lists of packages and corresponding version numbers, possible through a "requirements" file.
This permits the efficient re-creation of an entire group of packages in a separate environment (e.g. another computer) or
virtual environment. This can be achieved with a properly formatted file and the following command,
where
requirements.txt
is the name of the file:
pip install -r requirements.txt
To install some package for a specific python version, pip provides the following command, where
$
is replaced by 2, 3, 3.4, etc.:
pip$ install some-package-name
Using
Pip provides a way to install user-defined projects locally with the use of file. This method requires the python project to have the following file structure:
example_project/
├── exampleproject/ Python package with source code.
, ├── __init__.py Make the folder a package.
, └── example.py Example module.
└── README.md README with info of the project.
Within this structure, user can add to the root of the project (i.e. for above structure) with the following content:
from setuptools import setup, find_packages
setup(
name='example', # Name of the package. This will be used, when the project is imported as a package.
version='0.1.0',
packages=find_packages(include= exampleproject', 'exampleproject.*' # Pip will automatically install the dependencies provided here.
)
After this, pip can install this custom project by running the following command, from the project root directory:
pip install -e .
Custom repository
Besides the default PyPI repository, Pip supports custom repositories as well.
Such repositories can be located on an HTTP(s) URL or on a file system location.
A custom repository can be specified using the -i or—index-url option, like so:
pip install -i https://your-custom-repo/simple
Or with a filesystem:
pip install -i /path/to/your/custom-repo/simple
See also
*
Setuptools
setuptools is a package development process library designed to facilitate packaging Python (programming language), Python projects by enhancing the Python standard library (distribution utilities). It includes:
*Python package and module defini ...
PipenvPython Poetry*
Conda (package manager) for
Anaconda distribution
*
PyPM -
ActiveState's proprietary package manager
References
External links
Official Pip websitePython Packaging Authority
{{Package management systems
Free package management systems
Python (programming language) development tools
Python (programming language) software