1

I have a VM with: OS: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS Kernel: Linux 4.4.0-59-generic Architecture: x86-64

In this system, there were 2 versions of python: 2.7.12 and 3.5. Pip was also installed. Pip version is:

pip 9.0.1 from /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages (python 2.7)

Every time pip install <package> was run, I got error. The main error was because lsb_release -a returned error. I ran lsb_release -a from console and I got invalid syntax error:

File "/usr/bin/lsb_release", line 64
print("No LSB modules are available.", file=sys.stderr)
                                           ^

The header of lsb_release file has the following:

#!/usr/bin/python3 -Es

But the system does not seem to know how to get to python3, even though the symbolic link was set for python3 to python3.5, using the following command:

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python3.5 /usr/bin/python3

The output of command ls -l /usr/bin/python* is the following:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       9 Dec  9  2015 /usr/bin/python -> python2.7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       9 Dec  9  2015 /usr/bin/python2 -> python2.7
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3546104 Nov 19 01:35 /usr/bin/python2.7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      33 Nov 19 01:35 /usr/bin/python2.7-config -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python2.7-config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      16 Dec  9  2015 /usr/bin/python2-config -> python2.7-config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       9 Jan 26 09:07 /usr/bin/python3 -> python3.5
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 3546104 Jan 19 14:23 /usr/bin/python3.5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      33 Nov 17 11:23 /usr/bin/python3.5-config -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.5-config
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 3546104 Jan 19 14:23 /usr/bin/python3.5m
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      34 Nov 17 11:23 /usr/bin/python3.5m-config -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.5m-config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      16 Mar 23  2016 /usr/bin/python3-config -> python3.5-config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      10 Jun  6  2016 /usr/bin/python3m -> python3.5m
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      17 Mar 23  2016 /usr/bin/python3m-config -> python3.5m-config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      16 Dec  9  2015 /usr/bin/python-config -> python2.7-config

Checking the version of python3.5, I got back the version of 2.7:

$ /usr/bin/python3.5 --version
Python 2.7.12

Something does not look right from my system, when I execute ll -a /usr/share/man/man1 | grep python. The output is:

-rw-r--r--  1 root root   3367 Dec  9  2015 dh_python2.1.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   3280 May 18  2016 dh_python3.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     14 Dec  9  2015 python.1.gz -> python2.7.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     14 Dec  9  2015 python2.1.gz -> python2.7.1.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   5640 Nov 19 01:32 python2.7.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     38 Nov 19 01:35 python2.7-config.1.gz -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python2.7-config.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     21 Dec  9  2015 python2-config.1.gz -> python2.7-config.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     14 Jun  6  2016 python3.1.gz -> python3.5.1.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   5174 Nov 17 10:43 python3.5.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     38 Nov 17 11:23 python3.5-config.1.gz -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.5-config.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     14 Nov 17 11:23 python3.5m.1.gz -> python3.5.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     39 Nov 17 11:23 python3.5m-config.1.gz -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.5m-config.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     21 Mar 23  2016 python3-config.1.gz -> python3.5-config.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     15 Jun  6  2016 python3m.1.gz -> python3.5m.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     22 Mar 23  2016 python3m-config.1.gz -> python3.5m-config.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     21 Dec  9  2015 python-config.1.gz -> python2.7-config.1.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    921 Nov 19 00:15 x86_64-linux-gnu-python2.7-config.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     39 Nov 17 11:23 x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.5-config.1.gz -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.5m-config.1.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    907 Nov 23  2013 x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.5m-config.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     38 Mar 23  2016 x86_64-linux-gnu-python3-config.1.gz -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.5-config.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     39 Mar 23  2016 x86_64-linux-gnu-python3m-config.1.gz -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.5m-config.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     38 Dec  9  2015 x86_64-linux-gnu-python-config.1.gz -> x86_64-linux-gnu-python2.7-config.1.gz

The 3.5 package, x86_64-linux-gnu-python3.5-config.1.gz, has a symbolic link to 3.5m. Is it odd?

The problem now is how to correct the python3 point to the correct version. Is there a way to do so?

Thank you

Thuy Nguyenphuc
  • 11
  • 4

2 Answers2

1

You just purge lsb-release package and install again it will solve your problem.

 $ sudo apt purge lsb-release
 $ sudo apt install lsb-release
Rakib
  • 111
0

The problem was the python versions 2.7.12 and 3.5.2 have messed up on the VM. A quick solution is just to purge the VM and create another one. This resolved my problem.

Thuy Nguyenphuc
  • 11
  • 4