pipx-in-pipx

############ pipx-in-pipx ############

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+----------+-----------------+---------------------------------+ | docs | read-the-docs | |Read The Docs| | +----------+-----------------+---------------------------------+ | linux | static analysis | |Travis CI| | +----------+-----------------+---------------------------------+ | linux | CPython 3.7 | |CodeBuild Linux CPython 3.7| | +----------+-----------------+---------------------------------+ | windows | CPython 3.7 | |CodeBuild Windows CPython 3.7| | +----------+-----------------+---------------------------------+

.. |Read The Docs| image:: https://readthedocs.org/projects/pipx-in-pipx/badge/ :target: https://pipx-in-pipx.readthedocs.io/ :alt: Documentation Status .. |Travis CI| image:: https://travis-ci.org/mattsb42/pipx-in-pipx.svg?branch=master :target: https://travis-ci.org/mattsb42/pipx-in-pipx :alt: Travis CI Test Status .. |CodeBuild Linux CPython 3.7| image:: https://codebuild.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/badges?uuid=eyJlbmNyeXB0ZWREYXRhIjoiZi9uT0MrNGNXV2RSbitIdTBhM1BXTDBSR2ZjbEZmK3lBTmUxS1hkbUc5azFXVDIwdnFOdjRwUG95QnNHUDFwV0xjemhXcDcvVjdaNFEweGdVRFBsdEZNPSIsIml2UGFyYW1ldGVyU3BlYyI6Ik9TRWdNbmpMKzRwZGxvMUIiLCJtYXRlcmlhbFNldFNlcmlhbCI6MX0%3D&branch=master :target: https://us-west-2.console.aws.amazon.com/codesuite/codebuild/projects/LinuxCodeBuild-s5JgvxjQs15C/history?region=us-west-2 :alt: Linux Python 3.7 .. |CodeBuild Windows CPython 3.7| image:: https://codebuild.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/badges?uuid=eyJlbmNyeXB0ZWREYXRhIjoiQ1BUdWNIamZaZUpnRkVBdTZxbmJkNmVrMnpCWnlBbFZvVkcyNmp1cG1tZ2dkVzVMYzR1OHE1VnRmZTFSaGhLQ29vK2ZPZEJvKzJwWFhVVTdIZ2dzNjVnPSIsIml2UGFyYW1ldGVyU3BlYyI6Ildkdkw3OW5zdmRmTFQydVAiLCJtYXRlcmlhbFNldFNlcmlhbCI6MX0%3D&branch=master :target: https://us-west-2.console.aws.amazon.com/codesuite/codebuild/projects/WindowsCodeBuild-BVQ5nOqkXcWR/history?region=us-west-2 :alt: Linux Python 3.7

pipx_ is great for keeping your CLI tools isolated and your system Python paths clean. However, it still requires that you install pipx_ itself in your system Python.

But pipx_ is a CLI tool installed through pip...why not install pipx_ with pipx_? Why not indeed!

With pipx-in-pipx, all you need to do is install :

.. code:: shell

$ pip install pipx-in-pipx

But wait! You say. Didn't you just say that we shouldn't install things to system Python?

Yes. What pipx-in-pipx actually does is slightly (but only slightly) evil. Rather than actually installing anything when you run "install", pipx-in-pipx instead builds a temporary virtual environment, installs pipx_ there, and then uses that pipx_ to install pipx_ in your user local space, just like any other pipx_-installed tool.

What you end up with is a pipx_ installation that is itself managed by pipx_.

Sharp Edges

Which Python?

By default, pipx_ uses its own Python for each environment that it creates. Normally, this would be the system Python, whatever it was when you installed pipx. However, when your are using a pipx-in-pipx-installed pipx, the default Python that pipx_ uses for each environment it creates is instead whatever Python you used to "install" pipx-in-pipx.

This has two notable side effects:

#. If you uninstall your pipx-managed pipx, then all of the tools that you installed using that pipx_ will stop working because their Pythons suddenly point to nothing. #. If you want to change the Python used by all of your pipx-managed tools, you only need to reinstall one of them (pipx) rather than reinstalling all of them.

Uninstalling

pipx_ has a handy feature to uninstall all pipx-managed tools. Because you have now made pipx manage itself, running pipx uninstall-all will also uninstall pipx_.

This is not a bug, but a feature. By installing pipx_ using pipx-in-pipx, you have expressed an intent that you want pipx_ to manage itself. If that's not what you want, this is not the tool for you.

If you at any point uninstall your pipx-managed pipx, you can simply pip install pipx-in-pipx again to rebuild it.

.. _pipx: https://pipxproject.github.io/pipx/