How to use Python's pip to download and keep the zipped files for a package?

Question

If I want to use the pip command to download a package (and its dependencies), but keep all of the zipped files that get downloaded (say, django-social

Answer 1

pip wheel is another option you should consider:

pip wheel mypackage -w .\outputdir

It will download packages and their dependencies to a directory (current working directory by default), but it performs the additional step of converting any source packages to wheels.

It conveniently supports requirements files:

pip wheel -r requirements.txt -w .\outputdir

Add the --no-deps argument if you only want the specifically requested packages:

pip wheel mypackage -w .\outputdir --no-deps