# pip install not working when using python-dbg

**URL:** https://discourse.vtk.org/t/pip-install-not-working-when-using-python-dbg/2374
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [January 3, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/pip-install-not-working-when-using-python-dbg/2374 "2020-01-03T19:16:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![balborian](https://discourse.vtk.org/user_avatar/discourse.vtk.org/balborian/32/1152_2.png) [@balborian](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/balborian)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/pip-install-not-working-when-using-python-dbg/2374/1 "2020-01-03T19:16:18Z")

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I am interested in installing vtk using python-dbg, but I get this error:

```auto
miguelito@miguelito:~$ virtualenv --python=/usr/bin/python3-dbg testvtk
miguelito@miguelito:~$ source testvtk/bin/activate
(testvtk) miguelito@miguelito:~$ pip3 install vtk
ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement vtk (from versions: none)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for vtk

```

I can install other packages with no problems and can install vtk inside of a virtualenv with no problems either.

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### Author: ![ben.boeckel](https://discourse.vtk.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/pip-install-not-working-when-using-python-dbg/2374/2 "2020-01-03T20:05:26Z")

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AFAIK, we do not provide wheels which work with a debug Python.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![balborian](https://discourse.vtk.org/user_avatar/discourse.vtk.org/balborian/32/1152_2.png) [@balborian](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/balborian)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/pip-install-not-working-when-using-python-dbg/2374/3 "2020-01-04T21:43:54Z")

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In that case, how does the VTK team go about debugging the python interface? I understand that the python interface calls the C++ VTK library

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### Author: ![efahl](https://discourse.vtk.org/user_avatar/discourse.vtk.org/efahl/32/1087_2.png) [@efahl](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/efahl)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/pip-install-not-working-when-using-python-dbg/2374/4 "2020-01-04T23:27:03Z")

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Build VTK with CMAKE\_BUILD\_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo and you get the .pdb files, then can debug using the release cpython executable.