[nerdponx]

> Create virtualenv with the Python version you want (including pypy!) and do your pip thing there

You might benefit from using Pipx in this case: https://pypa.github.io/pipx/

Pipx is good for the case of "I want to run a standalone Python application that is available through Pip, but not my system's package repo." This is a more common case than you might think.

It's a sensible alternative to `pip install --user`, and having self-contained deps for tool is a bit like `npm install --global` or even `volta install`.

[WhyNotHugo]

Yup, this kinda works.

It doesn't address the greater issue tho: that it's getting harder and harder for distributions to package things right, and provider packages for their users (evidenced by the fact that you need a second package manager just for python stuff).

[nerdponx]

How is Pip any different than Cpanm, NPM, Gem, Luarocks, Nimble, Go's thing, Cargo, whatever JVM people use, whatever Haskell people use, etc. in that regard?

Distros have a hard job, but at the same time programming language tooling devs have more "customers" than just distro maintainers.