python install_error ai_generated true

ERROR: Cannot uninstall 'numpy'. It is a distutils installed project and thus we cannot accurately determine which files belong to it which would lead to only a partial uninstall.

ID: python/pip-cannot-uninstall-distutils-installed

Also available as: JSON · Markdown · 中文
80%Fix Rate
90%Confidence
0Evidence
2024-02-28First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
3.8 active — — —
3.9 active — — —
3.10 active — — —
3.11 active — — —

Root Cause

The package was installed by the OS package manager (apt/yum) via distutils, so pip has no RECORD file to know which files to remove.

generic

中文

该包由操作系统包管理器（apt/yum）通过 distutils 安装，因此 pip 没有 RECORD 文件来知道要删除哪些文件。

Workarounds

  1. 95% success 
    Create a virtualenv so pip owns the packages:
  python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
  pip install numpy
  2. 80% success 
    Force pip to ignore the installed version:
  pip install --ignore-installed numpy
  3. 75% success 
    Remove the OS package first:
  sudo apt-get remove python3-numpy
  pip install numpy

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. 85% fail

    Upgrade still needs to uninstall the old version first; same error occurs.

  2. 70% fail

    Manually deleting files leaves stale metadata in the OS package database and can break system tools.