title: What are the risks of running 'sudo pip'?
body: <p>Occasionally I run into <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/21047830/656912">comments or responses</a> that state emphatically that running <code>pip</code> under <code>sudo</code> is &quot;wrong&quot; or &quot;bad&quot;, but there are cases (including the way I have a bunch of tools set up) where it is either much simpler, or even necessary to run it that way.</p>
  <p>What are the risks associated with running <code>pip</code> under <code>sudo</code>?</p>
  <hr />
  <p>Note that this is not the same question as <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/q/15028648/656912">this one</a>, which, despite the title, provides no information about risks. This also isn't a question about how to avoid using <code>sudo</code>, but about specifically why one would want to.</p>