Why am I getting this error (related to pip and easy_install) when trying to setup a virtualenv?
I believe this is caused by a bug in older versions of virtualenv and/or pip. It looks like you're using virtualenv 1.8.4 and pip 1.2.1. Is it possible for you to upgrade to latest virtualenv and pip (currently virtualenv 1.9.1 and pip 1.3.1)?
This should do it, if you have install privileges:
pip install pip --upgradepip install virtualenv --upgradeAt that point running the same command (i.e. sudo virtualenv venv --distribute) should give you what you want.