Funny error message

[DL Neil]

On 1/2/21 6:35 AM, Bob van der Poel wrote:
> Found it!

Well done!


>>     I had the proper urllib3 installed. But, in my .local/lib/ a previous
>>     version was installed. Removing .local/lib/python3.8 has resolved the
>>     problem.
>>
>>     Anyone hazard a guess as to why I had a .local tree (nope, I did
>>     not create
>>     it ... I don't think!).
>>
> 
>     That is where "python3.8 -m pip install --user" puts the packages
>     you install.
> 
>     Barry
> 
> 
> 
> Okay ... I'll take your word for it. But, I really don't think I've
> every run that command :)

Assuming Python is maintained only at the system-level (cf --user or
venv) then it may be possible that installing some application that runs
'on' Python added the local-library (as a "dependency"). Alternately,
many beginners following installation instructions on a paint-by-numbers
basis, may type/copy-paste commands without retaining any memory of same.
[observation, not personal criticism]

Python has been designed to offer flexibility. One of which is the
ability to have multiple, co-resident, versions of Python and/or
libraries. Of course, this also produces exactly the type of 'gotcha'
illustrated (detected, and solved) here.

Someone more familiar with Python-packaging may improve/correct...


On a thematically-related, but OT-note:
I decided to install a 'fresh' version of Fedora 33 on this machine,
rather than performing a version-update. (required one hour from
start-to-finish - try that MS-Win users!) The Python-relevance was to
ensure there was no legacy-Python2 left 'lying-around'. However, the
GIMP (popular graphics package) still uses (and has some sort of
'exemption' to use) Python2. Stymied! Not quite - there's a Flatpak
option - which will enable my Python3-only objective by ring-fencing the
GIMP and its dependencies. However... now I have a system package
manager (dnf (~apt)) installing most system-software and 'other stuff'
under a different method (I took the same approach with the Chromium
browser) - how long will it be before such 'cleverness' is
forgotten/trips me up?
-- 
Regards =dn