title: pip3 install not working - No module named 'pip._vendor.pkg_resources'
body: <p>When trying to install a package for Python 3 (in Ubuntu), using <code>pip3 install packageName</code> (or <code>sudo pip3 install packageName</code>), I get the following error message:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/__init__.py", line 33, in vendored
      __import__(vendored_name, globals(), locals(), level=0)
  ImportError: No module named 'pip._vendor.pkg_resources'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have been reading for days and have tried the following WITHOUT any success:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Un-installing and re-installing pip3 using the following code: <code>sudo apt-get remove python3-pip</code> followed by <code>sudo apt-get install python3-pip</code>. This was suggested in several posts that say that sometimes <code>pip3</code> doesn't install properly for Ubuntu. However, it didn't work.</li>
  <li>Other post suggested it was an <code>ssl</code> package problem and that if the <code>ssl</code> package doesn't load on Python3, that's the issue. However the following command does not raise any error: <code>python3 -c "import ssl"</code>.</li>
  <li>Some other post suggested the problem was with the <code>requests</code> package. I then tried <code>sudo apt-get remove python3-requests</code> followed by <code>sudo apt-get install python3-requests</code> also to no avail.</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Other information you may need:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><code>pip3 --version</code> gives me the same error reported above.</li>
  <li><p><code>dpkg -L python3-pip</code> gives me the following information:</p>
  
  <pre><code>/.
  /usr
  /usr/lib
  /usr/lib/python3
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip-8.1.1.egg-info
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip-8.1.1.egg-info/PKG-INFO
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip-8.1.1.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip-8.1.1.egg-info/not-zip-safe
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip-8.1.1.egg-info/requires.txt
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip-8.1.1.egg-info/entry_points.txt
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip-8.1.1.egg-info/top_level.txt
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/baseparser.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/__main__.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req/req_set.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req/req_install.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req/__init__.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req/req_file.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req/req_uninstall.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/index.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/status_codes.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/setuptools_build.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/appdirs.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/outdated.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/ui.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/logging.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/encoding.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/deprecation.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/__init__.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/filesystem.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/hashes.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/utils/build.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/compat
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/compat/dictconfig.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/compat/__init__.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/compat/ordereddict.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/models
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/models/index.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/models/__init__.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/vcs
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/vcs/bazaar.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/vcs/subversion.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/vcs/mercurial.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/vcs/__init__.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/vcs/git.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/cmdoptions.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/basecommand.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/completion.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/install.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/hash.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/uninstall.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/__init__.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/list.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/search.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/show.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/download.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/wheel.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/freeze.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/help.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_vendor
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/__init__.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/operations
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/operations/__init__.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/operations/freeze.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/__init__.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/locations.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/pep425tags.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/exceptions.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/download.py
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/wheel.py
  /usr/share
  /usr/share/man
  /usr/share/man/man1
  /usr/share/man/man1/pip3.1.gz
  /usr/share/doc
  /usr/share/doc/python3-pip
  /usr/share/doc/python3-pip/copyright
  /usr/bin
  /usr/bin/pip3
  /usr/share/doc/python3-pip/changelog.Debian.gz
  </code></pre></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>How can I make <code>pip3</code> work?</p>
  
  <p>NOTE: <code>pip</code> for Python2 works just fine.</p>
  
  <p>================================================</p>
  
  <p>EDIT:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>When trying to <code>import setuptools</code> in Python3 I get the following error:</li>
  </ol>
  
  <pre class="lang-none prettyprint-override"><code>    Traceback (most recent call last):
        File "&lt;stdin&gt;", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/setuptools/__init__.py", line 11, in &lt;module&gt;
          from setuptools.extern.six.moves import filterfalse, map
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/setuptools/extern/__init__.py", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
          from pkg_resources.extern import VendorImporter
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2927, in &lt;module&gt;
          @_call_aside
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2913, in _call_aside
          f(*args, **kwargs)
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2952, in _initialize_master_working_set
          add_activation_listener(lambda dist: dist.activate())
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 956, in subscribe
          callback(dist)
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2952, in &lt;lambda&gt;
          add_activation_listener(lambda dist: dist.activate())
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2515, in activate
          declare_namespace(pkg)
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2097, in declare_namespace
          _handle_ns(packageName, path_item)
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2047, in _handle_ns
          _rebuild_mod_path(path, packageName, module)
        File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2066, in _rebuild_mod_path
          orig_path.sort(key=position_in_sys_path)
      AttributeError: '_NamespacePath' object has no attribute 'sort'
  </code></pre>
  
  <ol start="2">
  <li><p>When running the following command <code>sed -n '31,37p' &lt; /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/__init__.py</code> in the terminal, I get the following:</p>
  
  <pre><code>try:
      __import__(vendored_name, globals(), locals(), level=0)
  except ImportError:
      try:
          __import__(modulename, globals(), locals(), level=0)
      except ImportError:
  </code></pre></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>===========================================</p>
  
  <p>EDIT2:</p>
  
  <p>My <code>python3 --version</code> is <code>Python 3.5.2</code>.</p>
  
  <p>List of installed packages obtained running the code <code>ls /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages</code>.</p>
  
  <pre><code>apport
  apport_python_hook.py
  apt
  aptdaemon
  apt_inst.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  apt_pkg.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  aptsources
  AptUrl
  apturl-0.5.2.egg-info
  beautifulsoup4-4.4.1.egg-info
  blinker
  blinker-1.3.egg-info
  Brlapi-0.6.4.egg-info
  brlapi.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  bs4
  cairo
  _cffi_backend.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  chardet
  chardet-2.3.0.egg-info
  checkbox_support
  checkbox_support-0.22.egg-info
  CommandNotFound
  command_not_found-0.3.egg-info
  cryptography
  cryptography-1.2.3.egg-info
  cups.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  cupsext.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  curl
  cycler-0.9.0.egg-info
  cycler.py
  dateutil
  dbus
  _dbus_bindings.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  _dbus_glib_bindings.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  deb822.py
  debconf.py
  debian
  debian_bundle
  decorator-4.0.6.egg-info
  decorator.py
  defer
  defer-1.0.6.egg-info
  DistUpgrade
  easy_install.py
  feedparser-5.1.3.egg-info
  feedparser.py
  feedparser_sgmllib3.py
  gi
  guacamole
  guacamole-0.9.2.egg-info
  hpmudext.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  html5lib
  html5lib-0.999.egg-info
  httplib2
  httplib2-0.9.1.egg-info
  idna
  idna-2.0.egg-info
  janitor
  jinja2
  Jinja2-2.8.egg-info
  jwt
  LanguageSelector
  language_selector-0.1.egg-info
  language_support_pkgs.py
  louis
  louis-2.6.4.egg-info
  lsb_release.py
  lxml
  lxml-3.5.0.egg-info
  mako
  Mako-1.0.3.egg-info
  markupsafe
  MarkupSafe-0.23.egg-info
  matplotlib
  matplotlib-1.5.1.egg-info
  matplotlib-1.5.1-nspkg.pth
  mpl_toolkits
  networkx
  networkx-1.11.egg-info
  numexpr
  numexpr-2.4.3.egg-info
  numpy
  numpy-1.11.0.egg-info
  NvidiaDetector
  oauthlib
  oauthlib-1.0.3.egg-info
  Onboard
  onboard-1.2.0.egg-info
  orca
  padme
  padme-1.1.1.egg-info
  pandas
  pandas-0.17.1.egg-info
  pcardext.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  pexpect
  pexpect-4.0.1.egg-info
  PIL
  Pillow-3.1.2.egg-info
  pip
  pip-8.1.1.egg-info
  pkg_resources
  plotly
  plotly-1.9.5.egg-info
  problem_report.py
  ptyprocess
  ptyprocess-0.5.egg-info
  pyasn1
  pyasn1-0.1.9.egg-info
  pyatspi
  __pycache__
  pycups-1.9.73.egg-info
  pycurl-7.43.0.egg-info
  pycurl.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  pygobject-3.20.0.egg-info
  pygtkcompat
  PyJWT-1.3.0.egg-info
  pylab.py
  pyparsing-2.0.3.egg-info
  pyparsing.py
  python_apt-1.1.0.b1_ubuntu0.16.04.1.egg-info
  python_dateutil-2.4.2.egg-info
  python_debian-0.1.27.egg-info
  python_systemd-231.egg-info
  pytz
  pytz-2014.10.egg-info
  pyxdg-0.25.egg-info
  PyYAML-3.11.egg-info
  Quirks
  reportlab
  reportlab-3.3.0.egg-info
  requests
  requests-2.9.1.egg-info
  scanext.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  scipy
  scipy-0.17.0.egg-info
  sessioninstaller
  sessioninstaller-0.0.0.egg-info
  setuptools
  setuptools-20.7.0.egg-info
  six-1.10.0.egg-info
  six.py
  softwareproperties
  speechd
  speechd_config
  systemd
  system_service-0.3.egg-info
  tables
  tables-3.2.2.egg-info
  UbuntuDrivers
  ubuntu_drivers_common-0.0.0.egg-info
  UbuntuSystemService
  ufw
  ufw-0.35.egg-info
  unattended_upgrades-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_calculator-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_chromiumbookmarks-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_colourlovers-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_devhelp-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_firefoxbookmarks-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_gdrive-0.7.egg-info
  unity_scope_manpages-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_openclipart-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_texdoc-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_tomboy-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_virtualbox-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_yelp-0.1.egg-info
  unity_scope_zotero-0.1.egg-info
  unohelper.py
  uno.py
  UpdateManager
  urllib3
  urllib3-1.13.1.egg-info
  usbcreator
  usb_creator-0.3.0.egg-info
  wheel
  wheel-0.29.0.egg-info
  xdg
  xdiagnose
  xdiagnose-3.8.4.1.egg-info
  xkit
  xkit-0.0.0.egg-info
  xlsxwriter
  XlsxWriter-0.7.3.egg-info
  yaml
  _yaml.cpython-35m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
  </code></pre>