Python3.6 ImportError: cannot import name 'main' Linux RHEL6

Question

My ultimate goal is to download and install awscli http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/awscli-install-linux.html

Seems python and pip are required in order to accomplish my goal.

Installing python via yum isn't working for me, so I downloaded and installed python3 manually as follows:

wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.6.1/Python-3.6.1.tar.xz
tar xf Python-3.6.1.tar.xz
cd Python-3.6.1.tar.xz
./configure
make
sudo make altinstall

When I do

pip3.6 --version

I get this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/pip3.6", line 7, in <module>
    from pip import main
ImportError: cannot import name 'main'

Environment: RHEL 6.6 Accessed via ssh

What is going on? How to install pip and python3.6 correctly on my linux box?

Edit:

When trying to install via yum it fails so I am trying to avoid using yum:

[asemani@rcdc9pfda5r Python-3.6.1]$ sudo yum -y install python-pip

[sudo] password for asemeani: 
Loaded plugins: security
Setting up Install Process
No package python-pip available.
Error: Nothing to do

Another Edit:

After importing sys and then called sys.path this is what I get:

[asemani@rcdc9pfda5r Python-3.6.1]$ python3.6
Python 3.6.1 (default, Apr 28 2017, 11:03:27) 
[GCC 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-17)] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import sys
>>> sys.path
['', '/usr/local/lib/python36.zip', '/usr/local/lib/python3.6', '/usr/local/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload', '/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages']
>>> quit()
[asemani@rcdc9pfda5r Python-3.6.1]$ ls -l /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages
total 32
-rw-------  1 root root  126 Apr 27 23:45 easy_install.py
drwx------ 11 root root 4096 Apr 27 23:45 pip
drwx------  2 root root 4096 Apr 27 23:45 pip-9.0.1.dist-info
drwx------  5 root root 4096 Apr 27 23:45 pkg_resources
drwx------  2 root root 4096 Apr 27 23:45 __pycache__
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  119 Apr 27 23:45 README.txt
drwx------  5 root root 4096 Apr 27 23:45 setuptools
drwx------  2 root root 4096 Apr 27 23:45 setuptools-28.8.0.dist-info

Solution 1

You need to edit the pip3 file like so (your path could be different):

nano /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/bin/pip3

And change the import main line so it says:

from pip._internal import main

After this change, my pip3 started to work and I am on macOS. If you are using Linux, your path could be something like /usr/bin/pip3

I found this tip and more information from this thread: https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5240

Solution 2

My OS is Linux Mint 18

sudo nano /usr/bin/pip3

Change

from pip import main

To

from pip._internal import main

Solution 3

Don't invoke pip/pip3 directly, which are shortcuts at different locations for different user and they are not well maintained when you upgrade pip (check 'which pip' and 'sudo which pip').

 $ sudo python -m pip install xxx  #for python2 
 $ sudo python3 -m pip install xxx  #for python3

These commands do not take shortcuts and directly invoke pip module, which is maintained very well (also works on Windows)

Solution 4

sudo chmod -R a+rx /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages

You can see the problem right there in your ls -l /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages output that your pip directory is only readable by the owner, which is root.

Solution 5

Do a cd /usr/bin

Then sudo nano pip so as to edit the pip file

Change from pip import main to from pip._internal import main

This will resolve the issue

View more solutions

Comments

[melpomene]

"Installing python via yum isn't working for me" - how is it failing?

[Moonie Asemani]

Not quit sure but it doesn't seem to find the python or pip package when yumming. I will update my question to include detail

[melpomene]

This looks relevant: packaging.python.org/install_requirements_linux

[Chankey Pathak]

Remove it then install again. yum remove python-pip then yum install python-pip

[Moonie Asemani]

@melpomene I was looking at the document earlier today. As mentioned yum doesn't seem to be working

[Q Caron]

I believe you manually installed Python 3.6 correctly. You should then have a python3 and pip3 commands available from your terminal. What does sys.path contain after import sys using python3? You should have something like /somepath/python3.6/site-packages in it. Then what does ls -l /somepath/python3.6/site-packages | grep pip prints out?

[Moonie Asemani]

@QCaron I've edited my question to answer your questions. However I'm still unclear what my problem is?

[saurabh rathor]

ImportError: cannot import name 'main' Faced the same issue once I upgraded it to Python version 10. Got solution in -- github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5240 Simply restarting the terminal worked for me.

[Mulperi]

Check my answer, it should work for you.

[Q Caron]

Python 2.x is still the default Python version for many Linux / Unix based operating systems. Be careful with "choosing the default python to be used".

[Dmitry Grinko]

No such file or directory

[Tobias Holm]

Worked for me on Ubuntu, but file was in another path: sudo nano /usr/bin/pip3

[t56k]

Worked for me on High Sierra.