title: virtualenv cannot create environment
body: <p>I'm running on an iMac runing the latest version of catalina.  I have python 3.7.5 installed via homebrew.  Up to now, I've just been installing packages using sudo -H pip3 install ...</p>
  
  <p>I would like to use virtualenv.  I have virtualenv version 16.7.8 installed.  However, when I try to create a new virtualenv in my file system, after a lot of stuff about finding files on pythonhosted, I get the trace back below.  Apparently it's trying to create a subdirectory to /lib!  This looks like some sort of bug.  Any suggestions about tracking it down?  It has created bin, lib and include subdirectories, but only lib has any files in it.</p>
  
  <pre><code>Using base prefix '/usr/local/Cellar/python/3.7.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7'
  New python executable in /Users/victorsmiller/Programming/Python/tst/bin/python3.7
  Also creating executable in /Users/victorsmiller/Programming/Python/tst/bin/python
  Please make sure you remove any previous custom paths from your /Users/victorsmiller/.pydistutils.cfg file.
  Installing setuptools, pip, wheel...
  
    Complete output from command /Users/victorsmiller...on/tst/bin/python3.7 - setuptools pip wheel:
    Created temporary directory: /private/var/folders/zs/sfhqf6rs4dgdjf89wmqsc6440000gn/T/pip-ephem-wheel-cache-2_g3dz1c
  Created temporary directory: /private/var/folders/zs/sfhqf6rs4dgdjf89wmqsc6440000gn/T/pip-req-tracker-bxfcy5h6
  Created requirements tracker '/private/var/folders/zs/sfhqf6rs4dgdjf89wmqsc6440000gn/T/pip-req-tracker-bxfcy5h6'
  Created temporary directory: /private/var/folders/zs/sfhqf6rs4dgdjf89wmqsc6440000gn/T/pip-install-oboxx8ib
  Looking in links: /usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support
  1 location(s) to search for versions of setuptools:
  * https://pypi.org/simple/setuptools/
  Getting page https://pypi.org/simple/setuptools/
  Found index url https://pypi.org/simple
  Looking up "https://pypi.org/simple/setuptools/" in the cache
  Request header has "max_age" as 0, cache bypassed
  Starting new HTTPS connection (1): pypi.org:443
  https://pypi.org:443 "GET /simple/setuptools/ HTTP/1.1" 304 0
  Skipping link: not a file: /usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support (from -f)
  Analyzing links from page https://pypi.org/simple/setuptools/
    Skipping link: unsupported archive format: .egg: https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/77/38/90cae8fd99c5dc402d25930e1c91f5fcf6de5c8e982fd152a5a061e3df56/setuptools-0.6b1-py2.3.egg#sha256=ae0a6ec6090a92d08fe7f3dbf9f1b2ce889bce2a3d7724b62322a29b92cf93f0 (from https://pypi.org/simple/setuptools/)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and then a lot of similar lines to the last one.  Then followed by:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Local files found: /usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/setuptools-41.6.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl
  Given no hashes to check 305 links for project 'setuptools': discarding no candidates
  Using version 42.0.0 (newest of versions: 0.9.8, 1.1.6, 1.2, 1.3, 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.4, 1.4.1, 1.4.2, 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.1, 2.1.2, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.4.1, 3.4.2, 3.4.3, 3.4.4, 3.5, 3.5.1, 3.5.2, 3.6, 3.7, 3.7.1, 3.8, 3.8.1, 5.0, 5.0.1, 5.0.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.5, 5.5.1, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1, 7.0, 8.0, 8.0.1, 8.0.2, 8.0.3, 8.0.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.2.1, 8.3, 9.0, 9.0.1, 9.1, 10.0, 10.0.1, 10.1, 10.2, 10.2.1, 11.0, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.3.1, 12.0, 12.0.1, 12.0.2, 12.0.3, 12.0.4, 12.0.5, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 13.0.1, 13.0.2, 14.0, 14.1, 14.1.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.3.1, 15.0, 15.1, 15.2, 16.0, 17.0, 17.1, 17.1.1, 18.0, 18.0.1, 18.1, 18.2, 18.3, 18.3.1, 18.3.2, 18.4, 18.5, 18.6, 18.6.1, 18.7, 18.7.1, 18.8, 18.8.1, 19.0, 19.1, 19.1.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4, 19.4.1, 19.5, 19.6, 19.6.1, 19.6.2, 19.7, 20.0, 20.1, 20.1.1, 20.2.2, 20.3, 20.3.1, 20.4, 20.6.6, 20.6.7, 20.6.8, 20.7.0, 20.8.0, 20.8.1, 20.9.0, 20.10.1, 21.0.0, 21.1.0, 21.2.0, 21.2.1, 21.2.2, 22.0.0, 22.0.1, 22.0.2, 22.0.4, 22.0.5, 23.0.0, 23.1.0, 23.2.0, 23.2.1, 24.0.0, 24.0.1, 24.0.2, 24.0.3, 24.1.0, 24.1.1, 24.2.0, 24.2.1, 24.3.0, 24.3.1, 25.0.0, 25.0.1, 25.0.2, 25.1.0, 25.1.1, 25.1.2, 25.1.3, 25.1.4, 25.1.5, 25.1.6, 25.2.0, 25.3.0, 25.4.0, 26.0.0, 26.1.0, 26.1.1, 27.0.0, 27.1.0, 27.1.2, 27.2.0, 27.3.0, 27.3.1, 28.0.0, 28.1.0, 28.2.0, 28.3.0, 28.4.0, 28.5.0, 28.6.0, 28.6.1, 28.7.0, 28.7.1, 28.8.0, 28.8.1, 29.0.0, 29.0.1, 30.0.0, 30.1.0, 30.2.0, 30.2.1, 30.3.0, 30.4.0, 31.0.0, 31.0.1, 32.0.0, 32.1.0, 32.1.1, 32.1.2, 32.1.3, 32.2.0, 32.3.0, 32.3.1, 33.1.0, 33.1.1, 34.0.0, 34.0.1, 34.0.2, 34.0.3, 34.1.0, 34.1.1, 34.2.0, 34.3.0, 34.3.1, 34.3.2, 34.3.3, 34.4.0, 34.4.1, 35.0.0, 35.0.1, 35.0.2, 36.0.1, 36.1.0, 36.1.1, 36.2.0, 36.2.1, 36.2.2, 36.2.3, 36.2.4, 36.2.5, 36.2.6, 36.2.7, 36.3.0, 36.4.0, 36.5.0, 36.6.0, 36.6.1, 36.7.0, 36.7.1, 36.7.2, 36.8.0, 37.0.0, 38.0.0, 38.1.0, 38.2.0, 38.2.1, 38.2.3, 38.2.4, 38.2.5, 38.3.0, 38.4.0, 38.4.1, 38.5.0, 38.5.1, 38.5.2, 38.6.0, 38.6.1, 38.7.0, 39.0.0, 39.0.1, 39.1.0, 39.2.0, 40.0.0, 40.1.0, 40.1.1, 40.2.0, 40.3.0, 40.4.0, 40.4.1, 40.4.2, 40.4.3, 40.5.0, 40.6.0, 40.6.1, 40.6.2, 40.6.3, 40.7.0, 40.7.1, 40.7.2, 40.7.3, 40.8.0, 40.9.0, 41.0.0, 41.0.1, 41.1.0, 41.2.0, 41.3.0, 41.4.0, 41.5.0, 41.5.1, 41.6.0, 42.0.0)
  Collecting setuptools
    Created temporary directory: /private/var/folders/zs/sfhqf6rs4dgdjf89wmqsc6440000gn/T/pip-unpack-qj_9img3
    Looking up "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/61/a2/82b506a6cdb42cc79a65d5a9e790112cf6b98ee7aba4a53a2b9c9c8047d0/setuptools-42.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl" in the cache
    Current age based on date: 3817
    Ignoring unknown cache-control directive: immutable
    Freshness lifetime from max-age: 365000000
    The response is "fresh", returning cached response
    365000000 &gt; 3817
    Using cached https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/61/a2/82b506a6cdb42cc79a65d5a9e790112cf6b98ee7aba4a53a2b9c9c8047d0/setuptools-42.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl
    Added setuptools from https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/61/a2/82b506a6cdb42cc79a65d5a9e790112cf6b98ee7aba4a53a2b9c9c8047d0/setuptools-42.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl#sha256=4248cb506794bececcddeddb1678bc722f9cfcacf02f98f7c0af6b9ed893caf2 to build tracker '/private/var/folders/zs/sfhqf6rs4dgdjf89wmqsc6440000gn/T/pip-req-tracker-bxfcy5h6'
    Removed setuptools from https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/61/a2/82b506a6cdb42cc79a65d5a9e790112cf6b98ee7aba4a53a2b9c9c8047d0/setuptools-42.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl#sha256=4248cb506794bececcddeddb1678bc722f9cfcacf02f98f7c0af6b9ed893caf2 from build tracker '/private/var/folders/zs/sfhqf6rs4dgdjf89wmqsc6440000gn/T/pip-req-tracker-bxfcy5h6'
  1 location(s) to search for versions of pip:
  * https://pypi.org/simple/pip/
  Getting page https://pypi.org/simple/pip/
  Found index url https://pypi.org/simple
  Looking up "https://pypi.org/simple/pip/" in the cache
  Request header has "max_age" as 0, cache bypassed
  https://pypi.org:443 "GET /simple/pip/ HTTP/1.1" 304 0
  Analyzing links from page https://pypi.org/simple/pip/
    Skipping link: No sources permitted for pip: https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/3d/9d/1e313763bdfb6a48977b65829c6ce2a43eaae29ea2f907c8bbef024a7219/pip-0.2.tar.gz#sha256=88bb8d029e1bf4acd0e04d300104b7440086f94cc1ce1c5c3c31e3293aee1f81 (from https://pypi.org/simple/pip/)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and a lot more lines similar to the last, followed by</p>
  
  <pre><code>Found link file:///usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/wheel-0.33.6-py2.py3-none-any.whl, version: 0.33.6
  Local files found: /usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/wheel-0.33.6-py2.py3-none-any.whl
  Given no hashes to check 37 links for project 'wheel': discarding no candidates
  Using version 0.33.6 (newest of versions: 0.9, 0.9.5, 0.10.0, 0.10.1, 0.10.2, 0.10.3, 0.11.0, 0.12.0, 0.13.0, 0.14.0, 0.15.0, 0.16.0, 0.17.0, 0.18.0, 0.19.0, 0.21.0, 0.22.0, 0.23.0, 0.24.0, 0.25.0, 0.26.0, 0.27.0, 0.28.0, 0.29.0, 0.30.0, 0.31.0, 0.31.1, 0.32.0, 0.32.1, 0.32.2, 0.32.3, 0.33.0, 0.33.1, 0.33.4, 0.33.5, 0.33.6)
  Processing /usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/wheel-0.33.6-py2.py3-none-any.whl
    Added wheel from file:///usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/wheel-0.33.6-py2.py3-none-any.whl to build tracker '/private/var/folders/zs/sfhqf6rs4dgdjf89wmqsc6440000gn/T/pip-req-tracker-bxfcy5h6'
    Removed wheel from file:///usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/wheel-0.33.6-py2.py3-none-any.whl from build tracker '/private/var/folders/zs/sfhqf6rs4dgdjf89wmqsc6440000gn/T/pip-req-tracker-bxfcy5h6'
  Installing collected packages: setuptools, pip, wheel
  
  ERROR: Could not install packages due to an EnvironmentError.
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-19.3.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/commands/install.py", line 455, in run
      use_user_site=options.use_user_site,
    File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-19.3.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/req/__init__.py", line 62, in install_given_reqs
      **kwargs
    File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-19.3.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/req/req_install.py", line 861, in install
      use_user_site=use_user_site, pycompile=pycompile,
    File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-19.3.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/req/req_install.py", line 495, in move_wheel_files
      warn_script_location=warn_script_location,
    File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-19.3.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/wheel.py", line 461, in move_wheel_files
      clobber(source, lib_dir, True)
    File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-19.3.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/wheel.py", line 392, in clobber
      ensure_dir(dest)  # common for the 'include' path
    File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/virtualenv_support/pip-19.3.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/utils/misc.py", line 116, in ensure_dir
      os.makedirs(path)
    File "/Users/victorsmiller/Programming/Python/tst/bin/../lib/python3.7/os.py", line 211, in makedirs
      makedirs(head, exist_ok=exist_ok)
    File "/Users/victorsmiller/Programming/Python/tst/bin/../lib/python3.7/os.py", line 211, in makedirs
      makedirs(head, exist_ok=exist_ok)
    File "/Users/victorsmiller/Programming/Python/tst/bin/../lib/python3.7/os.py", line 221, in makedirs
      mkdir(name, mode)
  OSError: [Errno 30] Read-only file system: '/lib'
  Cleaning up...
  Removed build tracker '/private/var/folders/zs/sfhqf6rs4dgdjf89wmqsc6440000gn/T/pip-req-tracker-bxfcy5h6'
  </code></pre>