pip commands fail with ImportError cannot import name 'FormatControl'

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 GA

Situation

Pip commands fail with ImporetError FormatControl:

pip list --uptodate  
Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "/usr/bin/pip", line 11, in <module>
   load_entry_point('pip==10.0.1', 'console_scripts', 'pip3.6')()
 File "/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 572, in load_entry_point
   return get_distribution(dist).load_entry_point(group, name)
 File "/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2755, in load_entry_point
   return ep.load()
 File "/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2408, in load
   return self.resolve()
 File "/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2414, in resolve
   module = __import__(self.module_name, fromlist=['__name__'], level=0)
 File "/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_internal/__init__.py", line 42, in <module>
   from pip._internal import cmdoptions
 File "/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_internal/cmdoptions.py", line 16, in <module>
   from pip._internal.index import (
ImportError: cannot import name 'FormatControl'

Resolution

Removing pip obstacles from higher version and reinstall python-pip3:

rm -rf /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip-20.*
zypper in --force python-pip3

Cause

Running a pip command shows that there is a newer version available by upstream:

pip list --uptodate                           
Package         Version
--------------- -------
...
You are using pip version 10.0.1, however version 20.3.3 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'pip install --upgrade pip' command.

Running that command will work but should not be done, as next zypper update will apply based on previous version installed by zypper.

Disclaimer

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