# How can we keep pip from updating/uninstalling system libraries in /usr/lib/python?

**URL:** <https://discuss.python.org/t/how-can-we-keep-pip-from-updating-uninstalling-system-libraries-in-usr-lib-python/5059>\
**Category:** Packaging\
**Created:** [August 27, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/how-can-we-keep-pip-from-updating-uninstalling-system-libraries-in-usr-lib-python/5059 "2020-08-27T16:04:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 9

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**Author:** ![encukou](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/encukou/32/2461_2.png) [@encukou](https://discuss.python.org/u/encukou)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 11:24am UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/how-can-we-keep-pip-from-updating-uninstalling-system-libraries-in-usr-lib-python/5059/9 "2020-09-01T11:24:35Z")

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Right. We can definitely do that in Python 3.10. Where should this be best tracked/discussed?

Currently, to me it seems that the plans for distutils/setuptools are scattered across issues in several projects, so I’m not clear on what is actually happening. Would it be worth it for someone who’s following all this to write a PEP?

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