How to state in requirements.txt a direct github source

Question

I've installed a library using the command

pip install git+git://github.com/mozilla/elasticutils.git

which installs it directly from a Github repository. This works fine and I want to have that dependency in my requirements.txt. I've looked at other tickets like this but that didn't solve my problem. If I put something like

-f git+git://github.com/mozilla/elasticutils.git
elasticutils==0.7.dev

in the requirements.txt file, a pip install -r requirements.txt results in the following output:

Downloading/unpacking elasticutils==0.7.dev (from -r requirements.txt (line 20))
  Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement elasticutils==0.7.dev (from -r requirements.txt (line 20)) (from versions: )
No distributions matching the version for elasticutils==0.7.dev (from -r requirements.txt (line 20))

The documentation of the requirements file does not mention links using the git+git protocol specifier, so maybe this is just not supported.

Does anybody have a solution for my problem?

Petrology

Answer 1

Normally your requirements.txt file would look something like this:

package-one==1.9.4
package-two==3.7.1
package-three==1.0.1
...

To specify a Github repo, you do not need the package-name== convention.

The examples below update package-two using a GitHub repo. The text after @ denotes the specifics of the package.

Specify commit hash (41b95ec in the context of updated requirements.txt):

package-one==1.9.4
package-two @ git+https://github.com/owner/repo@41b95ec
package-three==1.0.1

Specify branch name (main):

package-two @ git+https://github.com/owner/repo@main

Specify tag (0.1):

package-two @ git+https://github.com/owner/[email protected]

Specify release (3.7.1):

package-two @ git+https://github.com/owner/repo@releases/tag/v3.7.1

Note that in certain versions of pip you will need to update the package version in the package's setup.py, or pip will assume the requirement is already satisfied and not install the new version. For instance, if you have 1.2.1 installed, and want to fork this package with your own version, you could use the above technique in your requirements.txt and then update setup.py to 1.2.1.1.

See also the pip documentation on VCS support.

Scrivens

Out of all the other answers, I can't believe none of them just showed a requirements file with a blend of "normal" reqs with a git one thrown in for comparison. I was so thrown off by what looked like command-line (-e) options. Thanks for showing a blend of both so I could put this in context! – Contraction

Pointing to the release 3.7.1 with git+git://github.com/path/to/package-two@releases/tag/v3.7.1#egg=package-two did not work for me. What worked for me was git+git://github.com/path/to/[email protected]#egg=package-two. – Bespectacled

This answer was very helpful. One thing though. Those git+git://... notation somehow caused ssh-relative errors on my Linux box. So I ended up switching them to git+https://... notation and then they work perfectly. – Citronellal

I wasn't sure if you should what to put for egg=<package name>. I forked a project where the package name that you pip install has a dash in it (package-two), but the module you import has an underscore in it (package_two). I used the name of the imported module (with the underscore) and it works fine. – Washko

GitHub dropped support for the git protocol -- you'll have to use https. – Levina

@Levina updated - does the new version look correct to you? – Scrivens

Excelent answere. It helps me a lot! – Katy

I think you may also need setup.py or pyproject.toml. – Usquebaugh

What if I want to install something that isn't in the root of a repo? Like if a repo has many folders with many packages how can I install any individual package? – Emf

@Usquebaugh you are correct that for certain recent versions of pip you will need to update setup.py - updated the answer. – Scrivens

Does #egg=package-two still work in 2023? I had to use package-two @ git+https:... instead to get it working for my project, specifically in GitHub Actions. – Schertz

@Schertz I think you're correct, updating the answer for latest pip versions. – Scrivens

@Scrivens I suggest you add an example where the root of the Python project is in a sub-directory of the git repository. – Millenary

Would it be possible to invent a version number as an option somehow or do we need to change the version in the git repo? See this example: #77205495 – Stoichiometric

Answer 2

“Editable” packages syntax can be used in requirements.txt to import packages from a variety of VCS (git, hg, bzr, svn):

-e git://github.com/mozilla/elasticutils.git#egg=elasticutils

Also, it is possible to point to particular commit:

-e git://github.com/mozilla/elasticutils.git@000b14389171a9f0d7d713466b32bc649b0bed8e#egg=elasticutils

Gadabout

I didn't manage to checkout locally such an editable version (due to syntax problems, probably) and so ended up using the git+git variant (which worked). In the requirements.txt your version works, so thank you very much :) – Petrology

The docs link was not working for me; I've used an older one. – Twannatwattle

What I did not understand is that the syntax showed is exactly what goes in requirements, i.e. there is no package name before the -e. – Hassiehassin

Adding "-e" isn't necessary depending on whether you want the package to be in editable mode, see answer by @qff . – Evidently

In OpenShift Online Next Gen Developer Preview, build throws error: AssertionError: Sorry, 'git://github.com/Username/repo-name.git#egg=repo-name' is a malformed VCS url. The format is <vcs>+<protocol>://<url>, e.g. svn+http://myrepo/svn/MyApp#egg=MyApp – Caril

What to do in case of using --src option in requirements.txt? I am trying: --src ./myvenv/lib/python2.7/site-packages -e git+https://github.com/Remak-a-s/rmkGoogleAPIs.git#egg=rmkgoogleapi and it said: pip: error: no such option: --src – Irresponsive

Shouldn't it be -e git+git:// instead of -e git://? I got a "should either be a path to a local project or a VCS url beginning with svn+, git+, hg+, or bzr+" error message. – Siddra

i get this Could not detect requirement name, please specify one with #egg= – Electrophotography

@Irresponsive you should include --src path/to/env/site-packages in command: pip install -r requirements.txt --src ... – Vingtetun

Looks like this will be deprecated soon: github.com/pypa/pip/issues/7554. Looks like the correct way to do this is now: -e git+ssh://[email protected]:path/to/your/repo (use https or http (insecure) if you don't have ssh set up) – Checkers

Why this random chunk of code without context is upvoted and accepted I can't understand. – Caudex

What is the "-e" meaning? – Katy

Answer 3

requirements.txt allows the following ways of specifying a dependency on a package in a git repository as of pip 7.0:¹

[-e] git+git://git.myproject.org/SomeProject#egg=SomeProject
[-e] git+https://git.myproject.org/SomeProject#egg=SomeProject
[-e] git+ssh://git.myproject.org/SomeProject#egg=SomeProject
-e [email protected]:SomeProject#egg=SomeProject (deprecated as of Jan 2020)

For Github that means you can do (notice the omitted -e):

git+git://github.com/mozilla/elasticutils.git#egg=elasticutils

Why the extra answer?
I got somewhat confused by the -e flag in the other answers so here's my clarification:

The -e or --editable flag means that the package is installed in <venv path>/src/SomeProject and thus not in the deeply buried <venv path>/lib/pythonX.X/site-packages/SomeProject it would otherwise be placed in.²

Documentation

• ¹ https://pip.readthedocs.org/en/stable/reference/pip_install/#git
• ² https://pip.readthedocs.org/en/stable/reference/pip_install/#vcs-support

Conrado

But note that if you omit the -e your next pip freeze may not give the correct results for this package – Vendee

Note: git+git@ urls are deprecated since Jan 2020. The others are still supported. – Hussar

syntax for ssh is git+ssh://[email protected]/SomeProject#egg=SomeProject – Malcommalcontent

Answer 4

First, install with git+git or git+https, in any way you know. Example of installing kronok's branch of the brabeion project:

pip install -e git+https://github.com/kronok/brabeion.git@12efe6aa06b85ae5ff725d3033e38f624e0a616f#egg=brabeion

Second, use pip freeze > requirements.txt to get the right thing in your requirements.txt. In this case, you will get

-e git+https://github.com/kronok/brabeion.git@12efe6aa06b85ae5ff725d3033e38f624e0a616f#egg=brabeion-master

Third, test the result:

pip uninstall brabeion
pip install -r requirements.txt

Twannatwattle

pip freeze still list the package i use as a closed, anterior version. and not a direct github checkout – Multiversity

You need to use `-e' option for 'pip freeze' to generate an url – Scoff

pip 9.0.1: no such option: -e – Outfight

You mean git+https? In the text you say git+git and in the code git+https – Hallel

@AntonyHatchkins fixed. – Twannatwattle

This method at least allowed me to find out the correct syntax for Bitbucket. For example, if my package name is "fred", I can use this scheme: pip install -e git+ssh://bitbucket.org/mybitbucketaccount/fred.git@397783bc10d5b13c7d5078d4368402aabcd05fb8#egg=fred – Anabolism

Answer 5

Since pip v1.5, (released Jan 1 2014: CHANGELOG, PR) you may also specify a subdirectory of a git repo to contain your module. The syntax looks like this:

pip install -e git+https://git.repo/some_repo.git#egg=my_subdir_pkg&subdirectory=my_subdir_pkg # install a python package from a repo subdirectory

Note: As a pip module author, ideally you'd probably want to publish your module in it's own top-level repo if you can. Yet this feature is helpful for some pre-existing repos that contain python modules in subdirectories. You might be forced to install them this way if they are not published to pypi too.

Pilocarpine

Answer 6

Github has zip endpoints that in my opinion are preferable to using the git protocol. The advantages are:

• You don't have to specify #egg=<project name>
• Git doesn't need to be installed in your environment, which is nice for containerized environments
• It works much better with pip hashing and caching
• The URL structure is easier to remember and more discoverable

You usually want requirements.txt entries to look like this, e.g. without the -e prefix:

https://github.com/org/package/archive/1a58aa586efd4bca37f2cfb9d9348958986aab6c.tar.gz

To install from main branch:

https://github.com/org/package/archive/main.tar.gz

There is also an equivalent .zip endpoint, but it was reported in a comment that always using the .tar.gz endpoint avoids problems with unicode package names.

Lordship

As mentioned in a comment of this similar SO answer, the zip extractor can have issues with unicode package names. Specifying .tar.gz instead of .zip will fix this. – Ephah

@Ephah I updated the answer to recommend .tar.gz instead of .zip. – Lordship

This is the one answer I was looking for, thanks. – Elagabalus

The only circumstance where you don't have to specify egg=package is when the package has a proper name, and only one package, that pip will find and translate. That is never safe to assume. The compressed file provided by github doesn't change that, the repositories you tested would work the same with the git+https hyperlink or the zip "endpoint". – Malcommalcontent

Answer 7

None of these answers worked for me. The only thing that worked was:

git+https://github.com/path_to_my_project.git

No "e", no double "git" and no previous installs necessary.

Sassafras

The -e means that the package will be installed as an editable package, this may or may not be desirable depending on the package and how you will use it. – Malcommalcontent

Answer 8

It seems like this is also a valid format:

gym-tictactoe @ git+https://github.com/haje01/gym-tictactoe.git@84e22fc28fe192ba0040bdd56a697f63d3d4a3d5

If you do a pip install "git+https://github.com/haje01/gym-tictactoe.git", then look at what got installed by running pip freeze, you will see the package described in this format and can copy and paste into requirements.txt.

Your

This fixes my issue from the private repo and setup.py install_requires options. Thanks! – Waggoner

Just needed this today, and the solutions in older answers did not work for me, but this one worked well. I wonder if there was a change in pip? In particular, the #egg=gym-tictactoe at the end failed, but gym-tictactoe @ at the beginning worked, with the same git+https:... URL either way. – Schertz

This is the syntax for non editable package (without the -e option) – Malcommalcontent

Answer 9

I'm finding that it's kind of tricky to get pip3 (v9.0.1, as installed by Ubuntu 18.04's package manager) to actually install the thing I tell it to install. I'm posting this answer to save anyone's time who runs into this problem.

Putting this into a requirements.txt file failed:

git+git://github.com/myname/myrepo.git@my-branch#egg=eggname

By "failed" I mean that while it downloaded the code from Git, it ended up installing the original version of the code, as found on PyPi, instead of the code in the repo on that branch.

However, installing the commmit instead of the branch name works:

git+git://github.com/myname/myrepo.git@d27d07c9e862feb939e56d0df19d5733ea7b4f4d#egg=eggname

Unwonted

Are you sure your branch is also remote? – Petrology

It wasn't pointing to a local copy, if that's what you're wondering. – Unwonted

This syntax is now deprecated, for github public repositories it's now git+https and for private repositories it's git+ssh – Malcommalcontent

@IuriGuilherme Can you give an example of the use of git+ssh? I tried pip install git+ssh://[email protected]:user/repo.git but then it for some reason adds **** and tries git clone --filter=blob:none --quiet 'ssh://****@github.com:user/repo.git' 'C:\Users\userame\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-x2x6s19c' which gives me ssh: Could not resolve hostname github.com:user: Name or service not known fatal: Could not read from remote repository. Please make sure you have the correct access rights and the repository exists. – Olivine

@Olivine the syntax is pip install 'git+ssh://[email protected]/user/repo.git' or the full version pip install 'git+ssh://[email protected]/someoneusername/somerepositoryname.git@1234567890abcdef#egg=packagename' (I included the quotes for shell escaping) – Malcommalcontent

Answer 10

For private repositories, I found that these two work fine for me:

pip install https://${GITHUB_TOKEN}@github.com/owner/repo/archive/main.tar.gz

Where main.tar.gz refers to the main branch of your repo and can be replaced with other branch names. For more information and using the more recent Github API see here:

pip install https://${GITHUB_TOKEN}@api.github.com/repos/owner/repo/tarball/master

If you have git installed and available, then

pip install git+https://${GITHUB_TOKEN}@github.com/owner/repo.git@main

achieves the same, and it also allows for some more flexibility by appending @branch or @tag or @commit-hash. That approach, however, actually clones the repo into a local temp folder which can take a noticeable amount of time.

You can use the URLs in your requirements.txt, too.

Prudhoe

For private repositories there's the git+ssh specification, the authentication is handled with the ssh program in the same shell – Malcommalcontent