Python - [Errno 13] Permission denied

Question

I am trying to install a python script on my mac.
When I run $ python setup.py install I get the following message:

running install
error: can't create or remove files in install directory

The following error occurred while trying to add or remove files in the installation directory:

[Errno 13] Permission denied: '/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/test-easy-install-1668.write-test'

The installation directory you specified (via --install-dir, --prefix, or the distutils default setting) was:

/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/

Perhaps your account does not have write access to this directory? If the installation directory is a system-owned directory, you may need to sign in as the administrator or "root" account. If you do not have administrative access to this machine, you may wish to choose a different installation directory, preferably one that is listed in your PYTHONPATH environment variable.

For information on other options, you may wish to consult the documentation at:

http://peak.telecommunity.com/EasyInstall.html

Please make the appropriate changes for your system and try again.

How can I fix this?

Solution

python setup.py install may produce to [Errno 13] Permission denied error for writing in root folder.

You may try this

sudo python setup.py install

But better should be

• create virtual environment
• activate it

Then install by

python setup.py install

Comments

[101]

Tried sudo python setup.py install?

[itzMEonTV]

Inside a virtualenv didn't conflict to other system wide configs

[itzMEonTV]

"directory to install to that you have write permissions". So when user create a virtualenv, user will be the owner of it.So without root access can install.

[itzMEonTV]

I think pip will try defaultly to write package inside /usr/ or some root only write access folder.So may get permission denied ? will it better to choose virtualenv than sudo ? I am not arguing you :)

[itzMEonTV]

K, then can install. but isn't it a good practice to use virtualenv ?