fix(install): avoid apt-package uninstall failure during web dep install

[rpierce99]

Note

Untested on a fresh install. This PR is Claude's interpretation of an issue raised in Discord (a fresh Pi install failing at step 7). The reasoning and fix are explained below, but I have not reproduced the failure or verified the fix on a clean Raspberry Pi OS image. Please review/test before merging.

Problem

On a fresh Raspberry Pi install, step 7 ("Install web interface dependencies") aborts with:

× Cannot uninstall requests 2.32.3
╰─> The package's contents are unknown: no RECORD file was found for requests.
  hint: The package was installed by debian.
✗ An error occurred during: Install web interface dependencies

Why it happens

1. install_dependencies_apt.py installs requests via apt → python3-requests (2.32.3). Debian-packaged Python modules ship no pip RECORD file.
2. Later it pip-installs google-api-python-client. Its dependency tree pulls a newer requests, and pip's resolver tries to uninstall the apt copy to replace it.
3. pip can't uninstall an apt-managed package with no RECORD → uninstall-no-record-file → the whole install aborts.

Fix

Add --ignore-installed to install_via_pip. pip then installs the new version into /usr/local/lib/.../dist-packages (which shadows the apt copy on Debian) instead of trying to remove the apt-managed package. This resolves the failure for any transitive dependency pip needs to upgrade over an apt-installed package, not just requests.

Manual workaround (for anyone hitting this now)

python3 -m pip install --break-system-packages --ignore-installed --prefer-binary \
  'requests>=2.33.0,<3.0.0' \
  'google-api-python-client>=2.147.0,<3.0.0' \
  'google-auth-oauthlib>=1.2.0,<2.0.0' \
  'google-auth-httplib2>=0.2.0,<1.0.0'
# then re-run (idempotent): bash first_time_install.sh

Testing

Byte-compiled and functionally verified that install_via_pip now emits --break-system-packages --prefer-binary --ignore-installed. Not validated end-to-end on a fresh Pi image (see note above).

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Enhanced dependency installation process to prevent conflicts when mixing system package manager and pip installations, improving installation reliability.

[coderabbitai]

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between fa6a7d6 and a108e2b.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• scripts/install_dependencies_apt.py

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Adds --ignore-installed to the pip install command in install_via_pip() within scripts/install_dependencies_apt.py. The function's docstring is expanded to explain that this flag prevents pip from aborting due to missing RECORD metadata on apt-managed packages and avoids uninstalling those packages when newer pip versions are installed.

Changes

pip --ignore-installed flag

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Add --ignore-installed flag and expand docstring scripts/install_dependencies_apt.py	install_via_pip() now passes --ignore-installed to pip alongside --break-system-packages and --prefer-binary; the docstring is extended to document this new flag's purpose.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~2 minutes

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly describes the main change: adding --ignore-installed flag to prevent pip from uninstalling apt-managed packages during dependency installation.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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[coderabbitai]

Caution

Some comments are outside the diff and can’t be posted inline due to platform limitations.

⚠️ Outside diff range comments (1)

scripts/install_dependencies_apt.py (1)

211-211: ⚠️ Potential issue | 🟡 Minor | ⚡ Quick win

Add --ignore-installed to the rgbmatrix pip install for consistency.

The rgbmatrix installation command should include --ignore-installed for the same reason as the main install_via_pip() function: to prevent failures when pip needs to upgrade apt-managed dependencies. While failures here are tolerated (lines 215-221), using the flag prevents unnecessary errors and maintains consistency with the fix.

🔧 Proposed fix

-                ok, output = _run([sys.executable, '-m', 'pip', 'install', '--break-system-packages', str(rgbmatrix_path)])
+                ok, output = _run([sys.executable, '-m', 'pip', 'install', '--break-system-packages', '--ignore-installed', str(rgbmatrix_path)])

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

In `@scripts/install_dependencies_apt.py` at line 211, The rgbmatrix pip install
command at the _run() call for installing from rgbmatrix_path is missing the
--ignore-installed flag. Add --ignore-installed to the pip command arguments
(between 'install' and '--break-system-packages') to maintain consistency with
the main install_via_pip() function and prevent unnecessary pip failures when
upgrading apt-managed dependencies.

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Outside diff comments:
In `@scripts/install_dependencies_apt.py`:
- Line 211: The rgbmatrix pip install command at the _run() call for installing
from rgbmatrix_path is missing the --ignore-installed flag. Add
--ignore-installed to the pip command arguments (between 'install' and
'--break-system-packages') to maintain consistency with the main
install_via_pip() function and prevent unnecessary pip failures when upgrading
apt-managed dependencies.

---

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• scripts/install_dependencies_apt.py

[rpierce99]

Good catch @coderabbitai — applied --ignore-installed to the local rgbmatrix pip install too (a108e2b) for consistency. It's low-risk there since that block already guards with check_package_installed('rgbmatrix') and tolerates failure, but it keeps the behavior uniform.

Reminder for reviewers: per the PR note, this is still untested on a fresh Pi install — it's reasoned from the Discord error, not reproduced.

[coderabbitai]

Tip

For best results, initiate chat on the files or code changes.

@rpierce99 Thanks for the follow-up! Applying --ignore-installed to the rgbmatrix block too makes sense for consistency — and as you note, the existing guard + failure tolerance keeps any risk negligible there.

Good call flagging the "reasoned, not reproduced" status for reviewers. If someone can spin up a fresh Raspberry Pi OS image to do an end-to-end smoke test before merge, that would be the ideal validation path for both the main install_via_pip fix and the rgbmatrix change.

(ᵔ◡ᵔ)🐇