After using many different Python tools (Poetry, Pipenv, virtualenv, etc) I've found that the most reliable method is to just use the standard `venv` command to

After using many different Python tools (Poetry, Pipenv, virtualenv, etc) I've found that the most reliable method is to just use the standard `venv` command to create virtual environments. I have the following `cvenv` ('create venv') alias set up in my .bashrc to create new virtual environments: alias cvenv='python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate && pip install --upgrade pip setuptools > /dev/null' Also, as others have mentioned, if you're not in a virtual environment, only ever install pip packages to your user location, i.e. `pip install --user --upgrade package_name` But the first thing to do before any of that is to make sure you know which python binaries you're running: which python which python3 which python3.7 etc... You can use the following command to set your default Python: sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3.7 9 (that sets python3.7 as the default when you just type `python`)