Upgrade mishap... ImportError: module 'pip' has no attribute 'main'

• Pip version: 10.0.1
• Python version: 3.6.5
• Operating system: MacOS 10.13.6

After having successfully upgrading to python 3.6.5, I noticed I was still on pip 9.0.3, so I had decided I would upgrade with the suggested prompt: pip install --upgrade pip. Upon executing this… I get a traceback:

❯ pip install --upgrade pip
Collecting pip
  Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/0f/74/ecd13431bcc456ed390b44c8a6e917c1820365cbebcb6a8974d1cd045ab4/pip-10.0.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl (1.3MB)
    100% |████████████████████████████████| 1.3MB 67kB/s
Installing collected packages: pip
  Found existing installation: pip 9.0.3
    Uninstalling pip-9.0.3:
      Successfully uninstalled pip-9.0.3
  Rolling back uninstall of pip
Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/basecommand.py", line 215, in main
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/commands/install.py", line 342, in run
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/req/req_set.py", line 784, in install
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/req/req_install.py", line 851, in install
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/req/req_install.py", line 1064, in move_wheel_files
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/wheel.py", line 462, in move_wheel_files
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/distlib/scripts.py", line 372, in make
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/distlib/scripts.py", line 276, in _make_script
    if self._is_nt and not outname.endswith('.' + ext):  # pragma: no cover
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/distlib/scripts.py", line 252, in _write_script
    outname = os.path.join(self.target_dir, name)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/distlib/util.py", line 430, in <lambda>
    try:
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/distlib/util.py", line 428, in set_mode
    def socket_timeout(seconds=15):
PermissionError: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/usr/local/bin/pip'

Having not read anything like the smart one I am… I ran python -m pip install pip --upgrade, to which I get:

Requirement already up-to-date: pip in /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages (10.0.1)

After thinking it worked, I ran pip -V, what came next hurt me:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2332, in resolve
    return functools.reduce(getattr, self.attrs, module)
AttributeError: module 'pip' has no attribute 'main'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin/pip", line 11, in <module>
    load_entry_point('pip==9.0.3', 'console_scripts', 'pip3')()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 480, in load_entry_point
    return get_distribution(dist).load_entry_point(group, name)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2693, in load_entry_point
    return ep.load()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2324, in load
    return self.resolve()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2334, in resolve
    raise ImportError(str(exc))
ImportError: module 'pip' has no attribute 'main'

I searched the 7 seas, the heavens and the deepest depths of space to find related reports… but no solution worked for me!

Re-importing main:

❯ from pip._internal import main
from: can't read /var/mail/pip._internal

Re-installing an older version:

❯ pip install --upgrade pip==9.0.3
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2332, in resolve
    return functools.reduce(getattr, self.attrs, module)
AttributeError: module 'pip' has no attribute 'main'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin/pip", line 11, in <module>
    load_entry_point('pip==9.0.3', 'console_scripts', 'pip3')()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 480, in load_entry_point
    return get_distribution(dist).load_entry_point(group, name)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2693, in load_entry_point
    return ep.load()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2324, in load
    return self.resolve()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2334, in resolve
    raise ImportError(str(exc))
ImportError: module 'pip' has no attribute 'main'

I’m in dire need of a solution Thanks in advance for any brave individuals who’d like to search this chasm of chaos with me and find the scroll of solutions!

[Rflyee]

This helps me, https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/installing/ curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py python get-pip.py If you are using python3. do this, python3 get-pip.py It works for me.

[pradyunsg]

Please look at #5599 for more details.