WARNING: Running pip as the 'root' user can result in broken permissions

# WARNING: Running pip as the 'root' user can result in broken permissions

Use the --root-user-action=ignore option to ignore the "Running pip as the 'root' user can result in broken permissions" warning.

Alternatively, you can create a virtual environment or run the pip install command with the --user option.

warning running pip as root user can result in broken permissions

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WARNING: Running pip as the 'root' user can result in broken permissions and conflicting behaviour with the system package manager. It is recommended to use a virtual environment instead: https://pip.pypa.io/warnings/venv

The warning is often shown when pip installing a package with sudo or in a Docker container that doesn't have a user added.

# Using the `--root-user-action` option to ignore the warning

One way to ignore the warning is to use the --root-user-action option.

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pip install --upgrade pip
pip install --root-user-action=ignore requests

# 👇️ Or with pip3
pip3 install --upgrade pip
pip3 install --root-user-action=ignore requests

pip install root user action ignore

Make sure to replace requests in the example with the name of the package you are installing.

The --root-user-action option is available as of pip v22.1.

Update your version of pip if you have an older version.

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# 👇️ Check pip version
pip --version

# 👇️ Upgrade pip version
pip install --upgrade pip
pip3 install --upgrade pip

# Setting the `PIP_ROOT_USER_ACTION` environment variable

Alternatively, you can set the PIP_ROOT_USER_ACTION environment variable to ignore.

Here is an example of how to do that in a Docker file.

Dockerfile

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# 👇️ Upgrade pip
RUN pip install --upgrade pip

ENV PIP_ROOT_USER_ACTION=ignore

And here is how to set the environment variable on Linux, MacOS and Windows.

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# Linux and MacOS
export PIP_ROOT_USER_ACTION=ignore

# Windows Command Prompt
setx PIP_ROOT_USER_ACTION ignore

# PowerShell
$Env:PIP_ROOT_USER_ACTION="ignore"

Make sure to run the correct command depending on your operating system and shell type.

# If you don't add a user to a Docker container, the root user is used

If you don't add a user to a docker container, all commands are run as root.

You can add a user before running a pip install command to get rid of the warning when using Docker.

Dockerfile

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FROM python:3.10.10-alpine3.17

RUN pip install pip --upgrade

RUN adduser -D newuser
USER newuser
WORKDIR /home/newuser

COPY --chown=newuser:newuser requirements.txt requirements.txt
RUN pip install --user -r requirements.txt

ENV PATH="/home/newuser/.local/bin:${PATH}"

COPY --chown=newuser:newuser . .

CMD ["python", "manage.py", "runserver", "0.0.0.0:8000"]

We used the adduser command to add a new user before we ran the pip install command.

If no user is added, all commands are run as root which causes the issue.

# Using the `--user` option instead of `sudo`

Note that using sudo pip install is not a good practice.

Installing third-party packages with root privileges is dangerous and should be avoided.

One alternative is to use the --user option.

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pip install requests --user
pip3 install requests --user

python -m pip install requests --user
python3 -m pip install requests --user

install with user option

The --user option installs the package in the user's home directory.

The command basically installs the package scoped to the specific user, not for the entire system. This helps with permission issues.

If you decide to use this approach inside a Docker container, make sure to add a user first.

Any command you run in a container that doesn't have a user added is run as root.

# The `--user` option doesn't work in a virtual environment

However, the --user option wouldn't work if you are inside a virtual environment.

A best practice is to create a virtual environment and install packages in it.

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# 👇️ Use the correct version of Python when creating VENV
python -m venv venv

# 👇️ Activate on Unix or MacOS
source venv/bin/activate

# 👇️ Activate on Windows (cmd.exe)
venv\Scripts\activate.bat

# 👇️ Activate on Windows (PowerShell)
venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

# 👇️ install the specific package in the virtual environment
pip install requests

If the python -m venv venv command doesn't work, try the following 2 commands:

python3 -m venv venv
py -m venv venv

Your virtual environment will use the version of Python that was used to create it.

Make sure to use the correct command to activate your virtual environment depending on your operating system and your shell.

Your virtual environment will use the version of Python that was used to create it.

If you created your virtual environment using sudo, try changing its permissions or recreate it without sudo.

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sudo chmod -R 777 venv

The command above assumes that your virtual environment is in a folder called venv.

777 means granting all users full access to the contents of the directory.

Creating a virtual environment and installing the package inside it helps because the virtual environment is an isolated Python installation.

You won't get permission issues because you aren't installing any packages globally.

Rather the packages are installed in the lib folder of your virtual environment.

Make sure your versions of pip, setuptools and wheel are up-to-date:

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WARNING: Running pip as the 'root' user can result in broken permissions