# Python Interpreters marked externally-managed since Debian 12 “bookworm”

**URL:** <https://onlykey.discourse.group/t/python-interpreters-marked-externally-managed-since-debian-12-bookworm/1163>\
**Category:** SSH, OpenPGP, GPG\
**Created:** [October 10, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://onlykey.discourse.group/t/python-interpreters-marked-externally-managed-since-debian-12-bookworm/1163 "2023-10-10T18:31:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mango\_Mungo](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/onlykey.discourse.group/mango_mungo/32/26_2.png) [@Mango\_Mungo](https://onlykey.discourse.group/u/Mango_Mungo)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://onlykey.discourse.group/t/python-interpreters-marked-externally-managed-since-debian-12-bookworm/1163/1 "2023-10-10T18:31:27Z")

</div>

If you wish to install `onlykey-cli` & `onlykey-agent` you must create a virtual environment now using  
`python3 -m venv path/to/venv`

Debian Install with dependencies:

```auto
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
$ sudo apt install python3-pip python3-tk libusb-1.0-0-dev libudev-dev python3-venv
$ python3 -m venv /path/to/venv
$ /path/to/venv/bin/pip3 install onlykey
...

```

Info:  
[Debian bookworm release-notes #python3-pep-668](https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/amd64/release-notes/ch-information.en.html#python3-pep-668)  
[Python » PEP Index » PEP 668](https://peps.python.org/pep-0668/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bettyvschmartz](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/onlykey.discourse.group/bettyvschmartz/32/81_2.png) [@bettyvschmartz](https://onlykey.discourse.group/u/bettyvschmartz)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 1:22pm UTC](https://onlykey.discourse.group/t/python-interpreters-marked-externally-managed-since-debian-12-bookworm/1163/2 "2026-01-14T13:22:27Z")

</div>

Had to do this too. Seems the docs are out-of-date as of now.

– bvs

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Henri\_GEIST](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Henri\_GEIST](https://onlykey.discourse.group/u/Henri_GEIST)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://onlykey.discourse.group/t/python-interpreters-marked-externally-managed-since-debian-12-bookworm/1163/3 "2026-06-08T15:18:19Z")

</div>

That is one solution.  
On my part I just use ‘pipx’ instead of ‘pip’ it’s done for that.

```  
sudo apt install pipx grep sed at wget libusb-1.0-0-dev libudev-dev openssh-client gnupg zbar-tools  
pipx install --system-site-packages onlykey-agent  
pipx install --system-site-packages onlykey  
. $HOME/.profile  
```