Do reproducible, tamper-resistant pip installs with hash-checking mode (--require-hashes)
domain: python-dependency-management · 8 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Generate a fully pinned requirements.txt with SHA256 hashes: pip-compile --generate-hashes requirements.in (pip-tools), which appends --hash sha256:... lines to every entry.
Entries look like: package==1.2.3 --hash=sha256:abc... --hash=sha256:def... — multiple hashes per package are allowed to cover different wheels/sdists.
Every dependency, including all transitive dependencies, must be pinned with == and carry at least one hash. Partial hashing is rejected.
Install with enforcement: pip install --require-hashes -r requirements.txt.
Note: hash-checking mode is automatically enabled as soon as any --hash option appears in the requirements file, even without the --require-hashes flag.
On mismatch or missing hash, pip aborts the install with an error naming the expected and actual digest — regenerate hashes rather than bypassing.
Official docs: https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/topics/secure-installs/
Known gotchas
All-or-nothing: one --hash line in the file switches the whole install into hash-checking; every requirement then needs pins and hashes or the install fails.
If a package publishes both wheels and an sdist (or multiple platform wheels), include a hash for each artifact your environments may download, otherwise installs fail on the platforms whose artifact wasn't hashed.
Hash-checking protects the download path; it does not vet the package itself. Combine with an audit tool (e.g. pip-audit) for vulnerability coverage.
setuptools invocations like python setup.py install/develop bypass requirements files and hash checks entirely; build-time setup_requires dependencies are also not hash-checked.
Prefer sha256 or stronger; pip rejects known-weak algorithms like md5/sha1 for --hash.
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