How to install python modules without root access?

You can run easy_install to install python packages in your home directory even without root access. There's a standard way to do this using site.USER_BASE which defaults to something like $HOME/.local or $HOME/Library/Python/2.7/bin and is included by default on the PYTHONPATH

To do this, create a .pydistutils.cfg in your home directory:

cat > $HOME/.pydistutils.cfg <<EOF
[install]
user=1
EOF

Now you can run easy_install without root privileges:

easy_install boto

Alternatively, this also lets you run pip without root access:

pip install boto

This works for me.

Source from Wesley Tanaka's blog : http://wtanaka.com/node/8095

No permissions to access nor install easy_install?

Then, you can create a python virtualenv (https://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv) and install the package from this virtual environment.

Executing 4 commands in the shell will be enough (insert current release like 16.1.0 for X.X.X):

$ curl --location --output virtualenv-X.X.X.tar.gz https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/tarball/X.X.X
$ tar xvfz virtualenv-X.X.X.tar.gz
$ python pypa-virtualenv-YYYYYY/src/virtualenv.py my_new_env
$ . my_new_env/bin/activate
(my_new_env)$ pip install package_name

Source and more info: https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/latest/installation/

In most situations the best solution is to rely on the so-called "user site" location (see the PEP for details) by running:

pip install --user package_name

Below is a more "manual" way from my original answer, you do not need to read it if the above solution works for you.

---

With easy_install you can do:

easy_install --prefix=$HOME/local package_name

which will install into

$HOME/local/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages

(the 'local' folder is a typical name many people use, but of course you may specify any folder you have permissions to write into).

You will need to manually create

$HOME/local/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages

and add it to your PYTHONPATH environment variable (otherwise easy_install will complain -- btw run the command above once to find the correct value for X.Y).

If you are not using easy_install, look for a prefix option, most install scripts let you specify one.

With pip you can use:

pip install --install-option="--prefix=$HOME/local" package_name