issue with pycryptodomex and websocket-client

[steef76]

Hi there,

I recently installed castagnaIT's netflix addon on my Librelec raspberry pi4 machine.
But unfortunatly I'm unable to create an authentication `key..

My laptop runs LinuxMint 22.3, and it is a single boot setup.

When I try to make the authentication key, When I try to run pip install pycryptodomex,
I get this as a result:
`error: externally-managed-environment

× This environment is externally managed
╰─> To install Python packages system-wide, try apt install
python3-xyz, where xyz is the package you are trying to
install.

If you wish to install a non-Debian-packaged Python package,
create a virtual environment using python3 -m venv path/to/venv.
Then use path/to/venv/bin/python and path/to/venv/bin/pip. Make
sure you have python3-full installed.

If you wish to install a non-Debian packaged Python application,
it may be easiest to use pipx install xyz, which will manage a
virtual environment for you. Make sure you have pipx installed.

See /usr/share/doc/python3.12/README.venv for more information.

note: If you believe this is a mistake, please contact your Python installation or OS distribution provider. You can override this, at the risk of breaking your Python installation or OS, by passing --break-system-packages.
hint: See PEP 668 for the detailed specification.
`
Pip3 has the same result.

And if I use pipx,as suggested in the terminal's output, I get this:

No apps associated with package pycryptodomex or its dependencies. If you are attempting to install a library, pipx should not be used. Consider using pip or a similar tool instead.

[andrewbird]

On my Ubuntu system I have python3-pycryptodome perhaps try sudo apt install python3-pycryptodome and see if the dependencies are satisfied.

[steef76]

Apparently, Python3-pycryptodome was already installed on my system too.
But now I'm having the same issue with the websocket-client.

[andrewbird]

python3-websocket?

[steef76]

That worked, cheers

[barrettj12]

Gemini says: use a virtualenv or --break-system-packages. Would be good to update the instructions to handle this case.

---

Ah, the classic PEP 668 error. Linux distributions (like Ubuntu, Debian, or Fedora) started locking down the system Python environment to stop pip from accidentally breaking system tools. It’s annoying when you just want to run a quick script, but it's actually looking out for you!

Since you just need to install these packages to run the Netflix authentication script, you have two great ways to handle this.

---

Option 1: Use a Virtual Environment (Recommended & Clean)

This isolates the packages so they don't interfere with your OS. Since you already have the folder open in your terminal, run these commands in order:

1. Install the virtual environment tool (if you don't have it already):

sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3-venv python3-full -y

2. Create the virtual environment (we'll name it netflix-env):

python3 -m venv netflix-env

3. Activate the environment:

source netflix-env/bin/activate

(You will notice (netflix-env) appear at the front of your terminal prompt).
4. Install your packages safely:

pip3 install pycryptodomex websocket-client

5. Run your script (e.g., python3 NFAuthenticationKey.py or whatever the instructions specify).

💡 Note: Once you close the terminal, the virtual environment deactivates. If you need to run the script again later, just navigate back to this folder and rerun step 3 (source netflix-env/bin/activate) first.

---

Option 2: The "Just Force It" Way (Fastest)

If you don't care about isolation and just want to bypass the error to get this done immediately, you can use the flag mentioned at the bottom of your error message.

Run this single command to install them directly to your user account:

pip3 install pycryptodomex websocket-client --break-system-packages

Don't let the --break-system-packages name scare you too much here; for basic libraries like these, it is highly unlikely to actually break anything, but Option 1 is still the "correct" modern Linux way.

Once you pick an option and install the packages, you're good to proceed with the rest of the Kodi add-on instructions!