Finding outdated Python packages

A quick Python technique this time. You can get a list of outdated Python packages installed on your system with a simple command:

pip list --outdated

That will list all the packages, including their dependencies. That's nice, but sometimes it makes it hard to know what to update first. So instead, use this command:

pip list --outdated --not-required

This will list only top-level packages, not their dependencies.

Do you use developer-only ("dev dependencies") packages, such as unit testing packages? There does not seem to be a simple command to find outdated dev-only packages. The best I can come up with is to install the dev dependencies, then use pip list, like this:

python3 -m venv temp_venv  # create a temp virtual environment
source temp_venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements-dev.txt  # install the dev dependencies
pip list --outdated --not-required
# then deactivate and delete the temp_venv folder

Without the --outdated flag, the pip list command will list the packages installed in your current environment. You can use the --not-required flag to again list only top-level packages.

You can use the --format json flag to output the list of packages as JSON. This could be useful if you're going to parse the list programatically. As long as you're not using the --outdated flag, you can use --format freeze option to output the list of packages in the pip freeze style.

You can learn about these and other pip list flags at the Pip documentation site.