pip config set ERROR: Fatal Internal error [id=2]. Please report as a bug.

[tenpura-shrimp]

Description

~/Development/conversations2/pynlp azhao/downloadtime2 * which python
/opt/homebrew/opt/python@3/libexec/bin/python
~/Development/conversations2/pynlp azhao/downloadtime2 * python -m pip --version
pip 25.0 from /opt/homebrew/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip (python 3.13)
~/Development/conversations2/pynlp azhao/downloadtime2 * rm -f ~/.pip/pip.conf ~/.config/pip/pip.conf
~/Development/conversations2/pynlp azhao/downloadtime2 * python --version
Python 3.13.2
~/Development/conversations2/pynlp azhao/downloadtime2 * python -m pip config set global.cert /opt/homebrew/etc/openssl@1.1/cert.pem
Writing to /Users/azhao/.config/pip/pip.conf
~/Development/conversations2/pynlp azhao/downloadtime2 * pip config list
:env:.config-file='/Users/azhao/.config/pip/pip.conf'
global.cert='/opt/homebrew/etc/openssl@1.1/cert.pem'
~/Development/conversations2/pynlp azhao/downloadtime2 * python -m pip config set global.index-url https://example.com/
ERROR: Fatal Internal error [id=2]. Please report as a bug.

Expected behavior

No response

pip version

25.0

Python version

3.13

OS

mac os

How to Reproduce

Run the commands and get a fatal error

~/Development/conversations2/pynlp azhao/downloadtime2 * python -m pip config set global.cert /opt/homebrew/etc/openssl@1.1/cert.pem
Writing to /Users/azhao/.config/pip/pip.conf
~/Development/conversations2/pynlp azhao/downloadtime2 * python -m pip config set global.index-url https://example.com/

Output

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the PSF Code of Conduct.

[tenpura-shrimp]

apparently having "PIP_CONFIG_FILE" set at all causes pip to destroy itself. That env variable just literally doesn't work?????

pip config debug
env_var:
  PIP_CONFIG_FILE='/Users/azhao/.config/pip/pip.conf'
env:
  /Users/azhao/.config/pip/pip.conf, exists: True
    global.test: test
global:
  /opt/homebrew/share/pip:/Library/Application Support/pip/pip.conf, exists: False
site:
  /opt/homebrew/opt/python@3.13/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/pip.conf, exists: False

[ichard26]

This is because the user configuration is not loaded when PIP_CONFIG_FILE is set ... which also makes it impossible for pip to modify the user configuration.

pip/src/pip/_internal/configuration.py

Lines 343 to 349 in f2cdcd0

	# per-user config is not loaded when env_config_file exists
	should_load_user_config = not self.isolated and not (
	env_config_file and os.path.exists(env_config_file)
	)
	if should_load_user_config:
	# The legacy config file is overridden by the new config file
	yield kinds.USER, config_files[kinds.USER]

It'd definitely be nicer to support writing to any configuration level even if it's not loaded (although a warning that it won't be visible would be good).

[sepehr-rs]

Hi @ichard26, I’d be interested in working on this but before diving in, I wanted to get your thoughts on the approach.

Would it make sense to first check if PIP_CONFIG_FILE is set, and if so, raise a clear warning explaining that configuration changes may not be applied as expected?
Alternatively, do you think it would be better to allow writing directly to the file specified by PIP_CONFIG_FILE, assuming that's what the user intends?

I’d really appreciate your input on which direction would be more aligned with pip’s design. Thanks!

[sepehr-rs]

Hi @ichard26, I tried fixing this on #13535, would appreciate any feedback you might have on it :).