Python – pip installs packages successfully, but executables not found from command line

macosmacportspippython

I am working on mac OS X Yosemite, version 10.10.3.

I installed python2.7 and pip using macport as done in
http://johnlaudun.org/20150512-installing-and-setting-pip-with-macports/

I can successfully install packages and import them inside my python environment and python scripts. However any executable associated with a package that can be called from the command line in the terminal are not found.

Does anyone know what might be wrong? (More details below)

For example while installing a package called "rosdep" as instructed in http://wiki.ros.org/jade/Installation/Source

I can run: sudo pip install -U rosdep
which installs without errors and corresponding files are located in /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages

However if I try to run : sudo rosdep init,
it gives an error : "sudo: rosdep: command not found"

This is not a package specific error. I get this for any package installed using pip on my computer. I even tried adding

/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages

to my $PATH.
But the executables are not found on the command line, even though the packages work perfectly from within python.

Best Answer

On macOS with the default python installation you need to add /Users/<you>/Library/Python/2.7/bin/ to your $PATH.

Add this to your .bash_profile:

export PATH="/Users/<you>/Library/Python/2.7/bin:$PATH"

That's where pip installs the executables.

Tip: For non-default python version which python to find the location of your python installation and replace that portion in the path above. (Thanks for the hint Sanket_Diwale)