In the Python documentation note:

  http://docs.python.org/3.4/library/venv.html#venv-def

the paragraph:

> Common installation tools such as Distribute and pip work
> as expected with venvs - i.e. when a venv is active, they
> install Python packages into the venv without needing to
> be told to do so explicitly. Of course, you need to
> install them into the venv first: this could be done by
> running distribute_setup.py with the venv activated,
> followed by running easy_install pip. Alternatively, you
> could download the source tarballs and run python setup.py
> install after unpacking, with the venv activated.

refers to the Distribute package and its specifics (how it
should be installed) but that package has been deprecated
in favor of the setuptools package. I suggest to change it
to something like:

> Common installation tools such as setuptools and pip work
> as expected with venvs - i.e. when a venv is active, they
> install Python packages into the venv without needing to
> be told to do so explicitly. Of course, you need to
> install them into the venv first: this could be done by
> running setuptools project's ez_setup.py with the venv
> activated, followed by running easy_install pip.
> Alternatively, you could download the source tarballs and
> run python setup.py install after unpacking, with the venv
> activated.

I'm attaching a patch based on the current tip in CPython's
development repository.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
  Jurko Gospodnetić

Good point. Perhaps we should reccomend https://raw.github.com/pypa/pip/master/contrib/get-pip.py instead, though?

Or, if you do not want to get into the specifics of how
to manually install setuptools/pip, it would probably be
better to just refer the user to the 'ensurepip' module
for the initial installation and tell him to upgrade
whatever is needed from there without going in to any
further details here.

'ensurepip' module itself is documented elsewhere (https://docs.python.org/3.4/library/ensurepip.html),
and that documentation should perhaps be updated to
include enough information (or references to external
documentation containing that information) for the
user to be able to perform the upgrades.

Best regards,
  Jurko Gospodnetić

I think it would be better to just remove the following part from the documentation:

"Of course, you need to install them into the venv first: this could be done by running ez_setup.py with the venv activated, followed by running easy_install pip. Alternatively, you could download the source tarballs and run python setup.py install after unpacking, with the venv activated."

Here is a patch.

+1 from me for just removing the bootstrapping instructions from this note.

(The original reference to Distribute has already been replaced with a reference to Setuptools at some point since Jurko filed this issue)

New changeset 50f593ed1469 by Berker Peksag in branch '3.5':
Issue #21034: Remove outdated paragraph from venv documentation
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/50f593ed1469

New changeset ac95719f1803 by Berker Peksag in branch 'default':
Issue #21034: Remove outdated paragraph from venv documentation
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/ac95719f1803

Thanks for the report, Jurko.

> +1 from me for just removing the bootstrapping instructions from this note.

Thanks, Nick.