fixes #435

src/ploomber/cli/install.py

@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+"""
+Implementation of:
+
+$ plomber install
+
+This command runs a bunch of pip/conda commands (depending on what's available)
+and it does the *right thing*: creating a new environment if needed, and
+locking dependencies.
+"""
+
 import json
 import os
 import shutil
@@ -100,7 +110,13 @@ def main_pip(use_lock, create_env=True):
     if create_env:
         venv_dir = f'venv-{name}'
         cmdr.print('Creating venv...')
-        cmdr.run('python', '-m', 'venv', venv_dir, description='Creating venv')
+        # NOTE: explicitly call 'python3'. in some systems 'python' is
+        # Python 2, which doesn't have the venv module
+        cmdr.run('python3',
+                 '-m',
+                 'venv',
+                 venv_dir,
+                 description='Creating venv')
 
         # add venv_dir to .gitignore if it doesn't exist
         if Path('.gitignore').exists():
@@ -260,7 +276,7 @@ def _create_conda_env():
 
 def _current_conda_env_name():
     # NOTE: we can also use env variable: 'CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV'
-    return Path(shutil.which('python')).parents[1].name
+    return Path(shutil.which('python3')).parents[1].name
 
 
 def _get_pip_folder_and_bin_name():

tests/cli/test_install.py

@@ -837,7 +837,7 @@ def test_install_lock_pip(tmp_directory, mock_cmdr_wrapped, create_setup_py,
     venv, pip = _get_venv_and_pip()
 
     expected = [
-        call('python', '-m', 'venv', venv, description='Creating venv'),
+        call('python3', '-m', 'venv', venv, description='Creating venv'),
         call(pip,
              'install',
              '--editable',