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Comment by mikepurvis | Hacker News Reader

Ubuntu 16.04 has Python 3.5 as its default `python3`.

Both Ubuntu 16.04 and Python 3.5 are end-of-life. Older versions of pip will work, but newer versions drop the legacy compatability. If you have an out-of-date system you can still use an old pip just fine.

16.04 is EOL on April 30, 2021. Even so, the idea of expecting to run the latest version of a package on an stability-focused operating system released almost 4 years ago seems hopeful.

Is it common to use the system version of Python with the latest version of Pip?

I don't see why you'd keep 16.04 around

It's supported until the end of April. Obviously we're in the process of migrating things, but it's either supported or it's not, and as long as it's supported, it should work.

It probably would work if you didn't subvert it by trying to use the latest and greatest pip from pyPI instead of the OS python-pip package.

Using the latest pip is the will of the PyPA, and they let you know this on every invocation that touches the network:

    You are using pip version 8.1.1, however version 21.0.1 is available.
    You should consider upgrading via the 'pip install --upgrade pip' command.

There are also packages and workflows which break on the older pips, and this has been justified on the basis that everyone can always just use the latest.

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