pip3 -V yields: "ImportError: 'module' object has no attribute 'main'"

[leonjessen]

• Pip version: pip -V "pip 10.0.1", pip2 -V "pip 1.5.4"
• Python version: python --version "Python 2.7.6", python3 --version "Python 3.4.3"
• Operating system: 14.04.1-Ubuntu

I simply cannot get pip to function:

$ pip -V
pip 10.0.1 from /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip (python 2.7)
$ pip2 -V
pip 1.5.4 from /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages (python 2.7)
$ pip3 -V
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2388, in resolve
    return functools.reduce(getattr, self.attrs, module)
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'main'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/pip3", line 9, in <module>
    load_entry_point('pip==9.0.3', 'console_scripts', 'pip3')()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 547, in load_entry_point
    return get_distribution(dist).load_entry_point(group, name)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2720, in load_entry_point
    return ep.load()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2380, in load
    return self.resolve()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2390, in resolve
    raise ImportError(str(exc))
ImportError: 'module' object has no attribute 'main'

I may have mixed up using apt-get and pip to install and upgrade pip and now my system seem to be caught in a weird state, where I cannot get the most recent version of pip and keep running into these main associated errors.

I have spend several days googling and trying to fix the issue with no luck, so any help is greatly appreciated!

[pradyunsg]

This is a case of #5599.

There's a list of related issues over on that issue -- I expect you'd find some useful information in those.

[xavfernandez]

Closing in favor of #5599

[sentientmachine]

I got this same error running pip3 install whatever because somehow my pip3 got bugged. The final solution was a forced purge and force upgrade pip3 using these commands:

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
python3 get-pip.py --force-reinstall

Apparently one can have multiple pip3's on a system, and they can fight each other over turf.

[RoboEvangelist]

I have the same issue.
By the way, @leonjessen looks like the guy from veritasium

[leonjessen]

I'm not though @RoboEvangelist 👍

I gave up on this issue and changed the to-do task from "Fix pip@14.04" to "Upgrade Ubuntu@18.04"

[RoboEvangelist]

Actually, my solution was to remove all things python-related, and reinstall them. Now everything works again in my computer. I have Ubuntu 16.04

[lock]

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