Well, I can't say that I hate Python, but their system of supposedly "virtual machines" is just a bunch of symlinks between different developments that are loosely isolated and I am not a fan of all this. As for the question, I would recommend (if you can) to try in a dummy VM with a very similar environment. See if it damages your entire virtual ecosystem or looks stable enough to do it on the real system. JFM On Wed, Aug 19, 2026 at 11:07 AM Dianne Skoll via linux < linux [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org> wrote: > On 2026-08-19 10:04, Robert P. J. Day via linux wrote: > > > --break-system-packages. > > I've used that before without any apparent ill effects. I can't remember > which package it was that I was trying to install. > > While we're here... can I just say I f***g HATE the Python ecosystem? > What kind of lunacy is it to ask people to set up virtual environments > because packages exist that are installed system-wide by apt or rpm? > > Even ancient Perl and CPAN get this right, so it's not like the Python > developers had no examples of how to make it work properly. > > (I also hate Python the language, but that's a rant for another thread...) > > Regards, > > Dianne. > > To unsubscribe send a blank message to linux+unsubscribe [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org > To get help send a blank message to linux+help [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org > To visit the archives: https://lists.linux-ottawa.org > >