Fails to create python 3 virtualenv

[saulshanabrook]

$ vf new --python=/usr/local/bin/python3 finance-scraper3
Running virtualenv with interpreter /usr/local/bin/python3
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualenv.py", line 14, in <module>
    import shutil
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.4.0/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/lib/python3.4/shutil.py", line 11, in <module>
    import fnmatch
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.4.0/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/lib/python3.4/fnmatch.py", line 15, in <module>
    import functools
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.4.0/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/lib/python3.4/functools.py", line 21, in <module>
    from collections import namedtuple
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.4.0/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/lib/python3.4/collections/__init__.py", line 17, in <module>
    from reprlib import recursive_repr as _recursive_repr
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/reprlib.py", line 3, in <module>
    from repr import *
ImportError: No module named 'repr'
Error: The virtualenv wasn't created properly.
virtualenv returned status 1.

[daisylb]

Do you get the same error when you run virtualenv --python=/usr/local/bin/python3 $VIRTUALFISH_HOME/finance-scraper3? Have you tried upgrading virtualenv, or installing Python 3.4.1?

[saulshanabrook]

The virtualenv command fails, but pyvenv-3.4 ~/.virtualenvs/finance-scraper3 succeeds. Does it make sense to use pyvenv instead of virtualenv?
https://docs.python.org/dev/library/venv.html

[justinmayer]

For what it's worth, I use Virtualfish to create Python 3 virtual environments quite frequently, and I have never encountered that error. (Mac OS X 10.9, Homebrewed Python 3.4.1)

I don't think it makes sense to use pyvenv instead of virtualenv, at least at this stage. Consistency across Python 2.7 and 3.x seems like a higher priority.

[saulshanabrook]

Apparently virtualenv uses pyvenv in 3 anyway.

The Python 3 version of virtualenv actually subclasses the standard library's implementation and provides hooks to automatically install setuptools and pip into the environment which pyvenv doesn't do on it's own.
I raised this issue on the virtualenv page (pypa/virtualenv#625), because it seems to not be related to the virtualfish part.

[Ivoz]

@saulshanabrook as a maintainer of virtualenv, sorry to say that that SO answer is false :/ It's something we're looking towards for the future though.

[daisylb]

I've since run into this one myself, and I've found that a workaround is to install virtualenv and virtualfish in Python 3.5 - although, that probably only works because nothing else is installed globally in 3.5 on my machine.

Since this bug has been unfixed in virtualenv for at least a year, I'm wondering whether it might be worthwhile trying to work around it in virtualfish?

[justinmayer]

For what it's worth, I just upgraded my global Python 2.7 site-packages to Pip 8.0.2, Setuptools 20.0, and Virtualenv 14.0.6 and ran vf new -p python3 foo without any problems. Perhaps the aforementioned issue has been resolved.

[Ivoz]

Hopefully by >=14.0 from pypa/virtualenv#805

[daisylb]

Oh, good. That saves us a lot of effort on our end. Thankyou, @LVoz!

[sunu]

Unfortunately I'm on virtualenv 15.0.1 and pip 8.1.2 and I still face this issue 😞

[Ivoz]

@sunu feel free to report it on main virtualenv repo to get looked at, if relevant

[findways]

I was having this issue as well and nothing was working. I uninstalled anaconda2 and installed anaconda3 and there was no problem making a virtualenv for 3.4 after this update.