How to use powerline with pyenv-virtualenv?

[anentropic]

I upgraded from something very old to recent powerline

But now when I do pyenv activate myenv my prompt dies because powerline is not installed in the virtualenv

Is there a workaround for this?

[anentropic]

(I mean apart from installing it in all my virtualenvs, which I've been doing in the meantime and works but is a bit of a pain)

[b-ryan]

Admittedly I haven't worked with pyenv. So I'm going to have to learn about it a bit.

So you used pip to install the project, correct? And what is the exact error you are getting?

[anentropic]

~ > Documents > etc > $ pyenv activate myenv
pyenv: powerline-shell: command not found

The `powerline-shell' command exists in these Python versions:
  2.7.11

powerline-shell is installed in my system python (2.7.11) via pip

I can pip install it into the current pyenv-virtualenv and my bash prompt works again

Maybe I can add something in my .bashrc to run powerline-shell with a specific python version and packages dir

[b-ryan]

I am not able to reproduce this issue. Could you perhaps provide all the commands necessary to reproduce? I uninstalled powerline-shell and then did the following:

sudo pip install powerline-shell
pyenv virtualenv -p $(which python3) test-env
pyenv activate test-env

[MaxyBlack]

I've had similar issue, solved it with this code

if [ "$TERM" != "linux" ]; then if type "powerline-shell" &> /dev/null; then PROMPT_COMMAND="_update_ps1; $PROMPT_COMMAND" fi fi

[jaymzcd]

I had the exact same behavior as @anentropic (Hi Paul! Cracks me up every time I google an issue like this you've already posted an SO answer or GH issue 😂).

After starting to use PyEnv myself on a new mac that I setup with powerline. @b-ryan's comment gave me an idea. I had installed powerline using the pyenv installed python and so there was a shim present at ~/.pyenv/shims/powerline. I removed the pyenv version and installed system wide using sudo which placed it in /usr/local/bin/powerline.

When I then activated my (pyenv) environment I no longer got the error. I believe it's because pyenv places it's shim folder in front of your $PATH and then since you are in a new environment with the shim references having priority but no powerline in the env you end up with the "command not found" error.

Try removing powerline from the pyenv and installing it system wide first before activating.

[anentropic]

Hi @jaymzcd ! I haven't tried this yet but it sounds promising!

[b-ryan]

@jaymzcd that makes sense. I wonder if the straightforward solution is to install with the system pip:

sudo /usr/bin/pip install powerline-shell

[anentropic]

yes this totally worked for me

deleted the pyenv shim version, then sudo /usr/local/bin/pip install powerline-shell

👍

[b-ryan]

Excellent! I will put this in the FAQ.

[anentropic]

Unfortunately for some reason the shim is recreated every time the pyenv virtualenv is activated (also whenever you pip install/uninstall with the venv activated)

I have not found a permanent solution yet

see pyenv/pyenv#1112

[deanishe]

@anentropic pyenv-which-ext should prevent pyenv shims giving you "command not found" errors when the shadowed program is installed on the system.

[cmburg]

@jaymzcd that makes sense. I wonder if the straightforward solution is to install with the system pip:

sudo /usr/bin/pip install powerline-shell

I had to extend this commad with the -H-option, since I got an error message with conflicting permissions.

[SiggyF]

You can also install commands that should be available outside venvs using pipx.

pipx install powerline-shell

Make sure that your PATH contains ~/.local/bin, for example like this in your .profile
export PATH=~/.local/bin:$PATH

This results in a new virtualenv created by pipx specifically for powerline-shell. It will also install a link this powerline-shell cli in ~/.local/bin so that you can use it from anywhere, also outside the venv it creates. This way you can install powerline-shell in your home folder and use it inside
different venvs without needing sudo rights.

[MarcinOrlowski]

pipx install powerline-shell

Just a note for future readers - adding pipx's bin/ folder to $PATH is crucial here, despite the fact pipx message is not stressing that much.