Hi, On Sun, Feb 08, 2026 at 02:10:03AM +0000, [email protected] wrote: > i'm trying to install https://github.com/onekey-sec/jefferson/ > "pip install --user jefferson" responds with > > error: externally-managed-environment
On Debian, Python libraries are meant to be managed by the system's package manager (apt or apt-get) alone. Installing things from PyPI with pip can break other Python applications on your system. Your main two options are to either install this in a virtualenv or use pipx which itself will make a virtualenv. Either of those approaches will only install things into your home directory which will limit the possible damage. So, that's: $ sudo apt install pipx $ pipx install jefferson That will result in the jefferson executable being at ~/.local/bin/jefferson For me this installed these dependencies only here: $ ls ~/.local/share/pipx/venvs/jefferson/lib/python3.13/site-packages/ click dissect_cstruct-4.7.dist-info lzallright click-8.3.1.dist-info jefferson lzallright-0.2.6.dist-info dissect jefferson-0.4.7.dist-info pipx_shared.pth They would only come into effect if I ran ~/.local/bin/jefferson, not affecting any other part of my system. > i could use a little guidance here before i break something Unfortunately installing third party language features for Python is not trivial and you should look up what the likes of pip, pipx and virtualenv are doing before trying to use them. If the non-Debian software is available in some other format like a flatpak, AppImage or snap then this might be preferable for a smoother experience. (I did not check this for the case of "jefferson") Thanks, Andy -- https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting
