On Sun, 8 Feb 2026, Andy Smith wrote: > 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 >
that worked and appears nothing is broken from my perspective python has become a disease i programmed c on hpux all static libraries move an executable between machines and it worked thanks
