Allow installation on Ubuntu 24.04 (#2893)

Ubuntu 24.04 is not allowing the overwriting of system python packages. In such cases it is recommended to  create virtual environment and activate it to avoid conflicts with the python packages coming from the OS.

Tools/export.sh

@@ -30,6 +30,12 @@ if [ -z "$SMING_HOME" ]; then
 fi
 
 # Common
+
+# Python Virtual Environment
+if [ -f ~/.venvs/Sming/bin/activate ]; then
+	source ~/.venvs/Sming/bin/activate
+fi
+
 export PYTHON=${PYTHON:=$(which python3)}
 
 # Esp8266

Tools/install.sh

@@ -125,6 +125,15 @@ check_for_installed_files() {
     fi
 }
 
+install_venv() {
+	echo 
+	echo "!!! Trying to install Python Virtual Environment !!!"
+	mkdir -p ~/.venvs/
+	python3 -m venv ~/.venvs/Sming
+	source ~/.venvs/Sming/bin/activate
+	eval "$1"
+}
+
 # Installers put downloaded archives here
 DOWNLOADS="downloads"
 mkdir -p $DOWNLOADS
@@ -243,7 +252,9 @@ if [ -f "/usr/bin/clang-format-8" ]; then
     sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang-format clang-format /usr/bin/clang-format-8 100
 fi
 
-python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip protobuf -r "$SMING_HOME/../Tools/requirements.txt"
+PYTHON_INSTALL_CMD="python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip -r \"$SMING_HOME/../Tools/requirements.txt\""
+
+eval "$PYTHON_INSTALL_CMD" || $PKG_INSTALL python3-venv && install_venv "$PYTHON_INSTALL_CMD"  
 
 
 install() {

Tools/requirements.txt

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+protobuf
 pyserial
 jsonschema
 kconfiglib