How do we use easy_install to install Python modules?

Easy Install was a Python package management tool bundled with setuptools that allowed automatic downloading, compiling, installing, and managing of Python packages. Introduced in 2004, it was groundbreaking for automatically handling dependencies and installing packages from PyPI. However, easy_install is now deprecated and has been replaced by pip as the standard Python package installer.

Installing pip using easy_install

If you have an older system with only easy_install available, you can use it to install pip ?

easy_install pip

Basic easy_install Usage

To install a package, you simply specify the package name after the easy_install command. It downloads the package along with its dependencies ?

easy_install numpy

The output shows a deprecation warning and installation details ?

WARNING: The easy_install command is deprecated and will be removed in a future version.
Searching for numpy
Best match: numpy 1.18.5
Adding numpy 1.18.5 to easy-install.pth file
Installing f2py-script.py script to C:\Users\jsmur\anaconda3\Scripts
Installing f2py.exe script to C:\Users\jsmur\anaconda3\Scripts
Using c:\users\jsmur\anaconda3\lib\site-packages
Processing dependencies for numpy
Finished processing dependencies for numpy

Why pip Replaced easy_install

Pip was released in 2008 as a superior replacement for easy_install with the following improvements ?

• Complete downloads first − All packages are downloaded before installation begins, preventing partial installations

• Better output − Clear, informative console messages during installation

• Dependency tracking − Keeps records of why packages were installed

• Informative errors − Provides detailed error messages for troubleshooting

• Cleaner codebase − More maintainable and programmatically usable

• Flexible installation − Packages don't need to be installed as egg archives

• Version control support − Native support for Git, Mercurial, and Bazaar

• Package uninstallation − Can remove installed packages

• Requirements management − Easy to define and reproduce package sets

Modern pip Usage

Today, you should use pip instead of easy_install for all package management. Here are common pip commands ?

Installing Latest Version

pip install requests

Installing Specific Version

pip install requests==2.28.0

Installing Version Range

pip install 'requests>=2.0,<3.0'

Conclusion

While easy_install was historically important for Python package management, it's now deprecated. Use pip for all modern Python package installations as it provides better dependency management, cleaner output, and uninstallation capabilities.