Most programmers often overlook that their Python packages also need to be updated. It is because only updating their system repository will not work here.
Updating all the Python packages can be a big problem. Programmers cannot keep track of every newest package as there are many of them. They need to update each package manually even when they decide what to update.
In this article, programmers can learn how to update all the Python packages using pip (Python Installs Packages).
The pip Python Package Manager:
While working with the Python programming language, most programmers typically use the pip package and virtual environments. Often, programmers use Python packages that need an update, or the versions of the Python packages are outdated while working with projects in Python.
These packages start growing with time and require timely updates. The pip creators designed the pip Python manager to update the python packages system-wide. In the following sections of this article, let us go through the various ways to use pip to update packages from older versions to more recent or latest versions.
Virtual Environment in Python:
A virtual environment is a Python tool that allows programmers to maintain dependencies needed for creating various projects separately. These require developing separate python virtual environments for each of the projects. It is one of the most critical tools that most Python programmers use.
Install a Virtual Environment on the system. Programmers use the module called virtualenv, a tool to develop isolated Python environments. This tool creates a folder that includes all the required executables to use the packages the programmer would need while creating a Python project.
Install virtualenv:
$ pip install virtualenv
Test the installation:
$ virtualenv --version
How to install pip-review?
Programmers can install pip-review in their virtual environment. If they would like to contain it, or system-wide they can install pip naturally via pip:
$ pip install pip-review
The message appears after programmers successfully install it:
Successfully installed pip-review-1.1.0
The help page of the pip-review
How to use pip to update the Python packages?
Some steps help programmers update the required packages using the pip on their windows:
Checking all the package versions with pip-review:
Often when programmers want to check whether they have any updates left or avoid the already updated packages before committing to a potentially long update list, they can check all the package versions by simply running the:
$ pip-review scikit-learn == 0.23.2 is available (you have 0.23.1)
scipy==1.5.4 is available (you have 1.4.1)
seaborn==0.11.0 is available (you have 0.10.1)
...
How to update all the packages with pip-review?
Once programmers get the list of the packages that need an update, they can easily update them all automatically:
$ pip-review --auto
Collecting pendulum==2.1.2
Downloading pendulum-2.1.2-py3-none-any.whl (163.3 kB)
...
Run this command on the virtualenv, and the updates are ready.
Also, if programmers wish not to update some specific packages, they do not need to run the "--auto" updater. If programmers run the process as "--interactive," they can decide for each package whether they would like to update it or not:
For example:
$ pip-review --interactive
numpy==1.19.4 is available (you have 1.18.1)
Upgrade now? [Y]es, [N]o, [A]ll, [Q]uit N
matplotlib == 3.3.3 is available (you have 3.1.3)
Upgrade now? [Y]es, [N]o, [A]ll, [Q]uit Y
pandas==1.1.5 is available (you have 1.0.3)
Upgrade now? [Y]es, [N]o, [A]ll, [Q]uit N
...
There are four options available for each package, "Yes," "No," "All," and "Quit." Choosing "Yes" means programmers want to add that particular package to the "to-be-updated-list." In the end, each Python package of this list gets updated.
If programmers select "No," it indicates the package will not get updated. When programmers choose "All," it means it will add all packages will be counted to the list moving forward. Ultimately, choosing "Quit" will imply pip-review to skip all other remaining packages and update only those programmers chosen "Yes."
Conclusion:
From this article, programmers will learn different commands to update their Python packages using pip manager in Python. The pip review is one of the most widely used methods for updating Python packages.
Updating packages using pip can be a hassle and time-taking. The pip review makes the task more efficient and helps to download the required packages by running the command on the Virtual Environment of Python called virtualenv.