python - pip installs packages successfully, but executables not found from command line

Question

I am working on mac OS X Yosemite, version 10.10.3.

I installed python2.7 and pip using macport as done in http://johnlaudun.org/20150512-installing-and-setting-pip-with-macports/

I can successfully install packages and import them inside my python environment and python scripts. However any executable associated with a package that can be called from the command line in the terminal are not found.

Does anyone know what might be wrong? (More details below)

For example while installing a package called "rosdep" as instructed in http://wiki.ros.org/jade/Installation/Source

I can run: sudo pip install -U rosdep which installs without errors and corresponding files are located in /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages

However if I try to run : sudo rosdep init, it gives an error : "sudo: rosdep: command not found"

This is not a package specific error. I get this for any package installed using pip on my computer. I even tried adding

/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages

to my $PATH. But the executables are not found on the command line, even though the packages work perfectly from within python.

Answer 1

On macOS with the default python installation you need to add /Users/<you>/Library/Python/2.7/bin/ to your $PATH.

Add this to your .bash_profile:

export PATH="/Users/<you>/Library/Python/2.7/bin:$PATH"

That's where pip installs the executables.

Tip: For non-default python version which python to find the location of your python installation and replace that portion in the path above. (Thanks for the hint Sanket_Diwale)