python_package performs superfluous requests to package index

[wosc]

I've stumbled across some suprising behaviour. Given a declaration like this

python_virtualenv "/opt/something"

python_package "mypackage" do
  version "1.2.3"
  options "--index=https://devpi.example.com"
end

I've had chef runs fail when our local devpi was down, even though mypackage==1.2.3 was already installed(!). So it seems to me that the pip_outdated/PIP_HACK_SCRIPT call somehow always wants to talk to the package index, regardless of what the local installation state is (and whether an explicit target version is specified, which makes the whole "check for outdated" gesture superfluous anyway). This seems rather wrong to me, however I'm not versed enough in pip internals to even make a suggestion where this behaviour comes from or what could be done to improve it. Any ideas? Thanks for your help!