How can I upgrade specific packages using pip and a requirements file?

Question

I'm using pip with a requirements file, in a virtualenv, for my Django projects. I'm trying to upgrade some packages, notably Django itself, and I'm getting an error about source code conflicts:

Source in <virtualenv>/build/Django has version 1.2.3 that conflicts with Django==1.2.4 (from -r requirements/apps.txt (line 3))

That's after updating the version number of Django from 1.2.3 to 1.2.4 in my requirements file. I'm using this command to actually do the upgrade:

pip --install --upgrade -E `<virtualenv dir`> --requirement `<requirements file`>

I can't find any flag that triggers a total package re-download. I even tried running an uninstall command first, and then the install, but no dice. Am I missing something?

Solution 1

First make sure you have checked the most voted answer.

---

I'm not sure if it's exactly your problem, but in my case, I wasn't able to upgrade Django to 1.2.4 - I was always finishing with 1.2.3 version, so I uninstalled Django with:

<virtualenv>/bin/pip uninstall Django

Then I removed <virtualenv>/build/Django directory and finally I installed the proper version with:

<virtualenv>/bin/pip install Django

Solution 2

I ran the following command and it upgraded from 1.2.3 to 1.4.0

pip install Django --upgrade

Shortcut for upgrade:

pip install Django -U

Note: if the package you are upgrading has any requirements this command will additionally upgrade all the requirements to the latest versions available. In recent versions of pip, you can prevent this behavior by specifying --upgrade-strategy only-if-needed. With that flag, dependencies will not be upgraded unless the installed versions of the dependent packages no longer satisfy the requirements of the upgraded package.

Solution 3

According to pip documentation example 3:

pip install --upgrade django

But based on my experience, using this method will also upgrade any package related to it. Example:

Assume you want to upgrade somepackage that require Django >= 1.2.4 using this kind of method it will also upgrade somepackage and django to the newest update. Just to be safe, do:

# Assume you want to keep Django 1.2.4
pip install --upgrade somepackage django==1.2.4

Doing this will upgrade somepackage and keeping Django to the 1.2.4 version.

Solution 4

The shortcut command for --upgrade:

pip install Django --upgrade

Is:

pip install Django -U

Solution 5

If you only want to upgrade one specific package called somepackage, the command you should use in recent versions of pip is

pip install --upgrade --upgrade-strategy only-if-needed somepackage

This is very useful when you develop an application in Django that currently will only work with a specific version of Django (say Django=1.9.x) and want to upgrade some dependent package with a bug-fix/new feature and the upgraded package depends on Django (but it works with, say, any version of Django after 1.5).

The default behavior of pip install --upgrade django-some-package would be to upgrade Django to the latest version available which could otherwise break your application, though with the --upgrade-strategy only-if-needed dependent packages will now only be upgraded as necessary.

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Comments

[Lokesh Meher]

Please check @dr-jimbob 's answer because recent versions of pip will actually upgrade all other dependencies that the package you are upgrading depends on.

[Martin Delille]

@gcaprio I'd rather advice you to choose marcin swierczynski answer now

[Reem Al-Assaf]

In an app that has a Django backend and Angular frontend, should the requirements.txt file be in the root directory (and run there with py -m pip install -r requirements.txt) or should it be in the backend folder where files such as manage.py are located?

[Prometheus]

This for me updated all my packaged and totally messed up everything!!!! Documents states: --upgrade all packages to the newest available version. Is this correct or did I do something wrong?

[harperville]

@OrbiterFleet I needed to update "requests" so I did pip install Requests --upgrade and only "requests" was upgraded. The description says "upgrade all specified packages" when I view the docs.

[marcelosalloum]

ATTENTION, it also updates all dependencies and can mess up with everything. the best option is to uninstall and reinstall the package.

[a1an]

How about editing the existing answer to add this bit of information instead of an (incomplete) answer?

[Aaron Lelevier]

@a1an please suggest what extra info that you think should be added in a "suggested edit". Thanks

[a1an]

I mean you could edit the answer given by JoeyG, adding the shortcut option you provided in context there.

[whale_steward]

to upgrade specific package use pip install --upgrade django==1.4.0

[3pitt]

is there an option to upgrade all packages at once (ie, without listing them) with this approach?

[Simion Agavriloaei]

@MikePalmice yes: pip-upgrade -p all will upgrade all your packages and update requirements file without needing any input from you.

[Happy Ahmad]

This is not the best practice. Use pip install Django -U or pip install Django --upgrade as described in @JoeyG 's answer.

[Parth Joshi]

@Ahmad agree. There should be a smooth update process in pip and virtual env.

[int soumen]

this should be the right answer according to question or the question itself is wrong.

[Long]

Good catch but your explanation is confusing since you started with django as a main package then in the example you use somepackage and then use django as a dependency.

[Peter Mortensen]

Is that the proper syntax highlight for the command lines (not a rhetorical question)?

[Veliko]

Yes it should be pip install --upgrade django==1.2.4 without the "somepackage"

[Luis_RH]

pip install -U <package> and pip install --upgrade <package> are also valid syntax

[Vodyanikov Andrew]

Doesn't fork for me. Helped finally: pip install -r requirements.txt --upgrade

[FedericoCapaldo]

If you are using pipenv you run the command pipenv update PackageName

[Tiana987642]

this works for me Python 3.8.1