The error: “cannot update snap namespace: cannot create symlink in “/etc/docker”: existing file in the way snap-update-ns failed with code 1” is a common error that can show up in many ways. In this blog, we will go through some of the ways you can fix this issue. Read on.

When dose this error happen?

This issue causes your setup.py builds to fail. So, what is setup.py ?. It’s a Python file and its presence indicates that the package or module you are about to install has been distributed and packaged using Distutils which is the standard used to distribute Python Modules. 

The cause sometime can be such as an old version of pip (6.1.1) being installed for Python 2.7; multiple copies of Python 2.7 installed on the Trusty Beta image; and a different location for Python 2.7 being used for sudo

Thus, it will appear the following message when you use setup.py:

usage: setup.py [global_opts] cmd1 [cmd1_opts] [cmd2 [cmd2_opts] ...]

   or: setup.py --help [cmd1 cmd2 ...]

   or: setup.py --help-commands

   or: setup.py cmd --help

error: invalid command 'bdist_wheel'

How To Solve The Error: “cannot update snap namespace: cannot create symlink in “/etc/docker”: existing file in the way snap-update-ns failed with code 1”?

Option 1: Install wheel package 

1. All you have to do is install the wheel package.
2. Simply run the pip install wheel command.
3. Use this command:

pip install wheel

     4. execute this command.

python setup.py bdist_wheel 

Now, you have fixed your problem.

Option 2: Utilize these commands

If you’re utilizing Ubuntu, you’ll need to run all of the commands listed below.

sudo apt-get install gcc libpq-dev -y

sudo apt-get install python-dev  python-pip -y

sudo apt-get install python3-dev python3-pip python3-venv python3-wheel -y

pip3 install wheel

Option 3: Add the following line

Firstly, you must install the wheel package, which may be done with the following command.

pip install wheel

Now, include the following line in your setup.py as well.

setup(

    ...

    setup_requires=['wheel']

)

A pip install command can be saved.

Option 4: Use setuptools module

Usesetuptools module in your setup.py file. Thus, type the following line at the leading of setup.py file here:

import setuptools
from distutils.core import setup
# other imports and setups

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed our article about the error. With this knowledge, we know that you can fix your issue: “cannot update snap namespace: cannot create symlink in “/etc/docker”: existing file in the way snap-update-ns failed with code 1” quickly by following these steps!

If you still have any other questions about fixing this syntax error, please leave a comment below. Thank you for reading!