Trying to execute module as a function

[ocket8888]

Environment

• pip version: 19.3
• Python version: 3.6
• OS: CentOS7

Description

pip 19.3 is trying to execute its 'main' module as though it were a function. I'm not sure where or why.
Expected behavior

The script that pip provides ought to run without crashing.

How to Reproduce

1. Install pip v19.3
2. Then run 'pip install '
3. It crashes with TypeError: 'module' object is not callable

Output

$ pip3 install --upgrade pip && pip3 install requests urllib3 distro
 WARNING: Running pip install with root privileges is generally not a good idea. Try `pip3 install --user` instead.
Collecting pip
  Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/4a/08/6ca123073af4ebc4c5488a5bc8a010ac57aa39ce4d3c8a931ad504de4185/pip-19.3-py2.py3-none-any.whl (1.4MB)
Installing collected packages: pip
Successfully installed pip-19.3
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/pip3", line 16, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
TypeError: 'module' object is not callable

[chrahunt]

Hi @ocket8888. With the recent update you may be seeing issues like mentioned in #5599.

Your best bet is to try python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip && python3 -m pip install requests urllib3 distro, that should never break.

[ocket8888]

Yes that works. Should I leave the issue open or is it captured by #5599?

[chrahunt]

I would say captured by #5599. I left a comment there with your error message so it should be easily found. We may update the top post if it seems to be common.

Thanks for the report!

[R-Adrian]

side note, for future reference: i have also hit this error today, after i upgraded pip3, distro, install, requests and urllib3.... and i've discovered it's a side effect of having multiple versions of pip around, installed under multiple paths.

in my case below, /usr/bin/pip3 is the old, OS-packaged version of pip and if i run an upgrade then the new version will get installed under /usr/local/bin/pip3 BUT the shell will continue to use the old one that it has used already in that session, until i log out and back in.
At that point it will start to use the new pip.

# pip3 list
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/pip3", line 16, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
TypeError: 'module' object is not callable

(logout and re-login here)

# which pip3
/usr/local/bin/pip3
# pip3 -V
pip 19.3.1 from /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip (python 3.6)

and ... it works again!