Virtual environments on Ubuntu 14.04

Ubuntu 14.04 comes with a broken pyvenv (see here). pip has to be installed manually inside the virtual environment:

pyvenv-3.4 --without-pip myvenv # make a virtual environment without ubuntu's broken pip

source ./myvenv/bin/activate # activate the environment - all python related stuff will now be handled inside the venv
wget https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/s/setuptools/setuptools-3.4.4.tar.gz # get setuptools
tar -vzxf setuptools-3.4.4.tar.gz # unpack
cd setuptools-3.4.4
python setup.py install # install setuptools - this means install them into your venv
cd ..
wget https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pip/pip-1.5.6.tar.gz # get a working copy of pip
tar -vzxf pip-1.5.6.tar.gz
cd pip-1.5.6
python setup.py install # install a working pip into your venv

# to activate your enviroment, use:
source  /path/to/myvenv/bin/activate

# to deactivate it, use:
deactivate