Does the README.md have an omission / typo / error?

[Ratspeed]

I am trying to learn how to install stable-diffusion-webui. I'm on Linux Mint (Ubuntu 24.04)

First I follow this:

# Debian-based:
sudo apt install wget git python3 python3-venv libgl1 libglib2.0-0

Alright. Done. They were already installed. Next README.md says:

If your system is very new, you need to install python3.11 or python3.10:

# Ubuntu 24.04
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3.11

Alright. Done. Next... skipping over the Manjaro/Arch portion, the next comment states:

# Only for 3.11
# Then set up env variable in launch script

Was there supposed to be a command/instruction between those lines? It appears to imply:

"Only for 3.11 ...[do this]"
"Then set up the environment variable in the launch script."

"Then" suggests there's something supposed to be done during the "Only for 3.11" portion. That's how I'm reading it. If so, do what? What's missing? But if that's not what it means, perhaps editing it to clarify intent might be warranted. My imagination says, "maybe there was an update to the installation process and someone forgot to remove that line?"

Also, since Python 3.11 seems required to run the program, why would signifying "ONLY" be necessary? It isn't only... it's always.

The next thing I'm trying to comprehend is the instruction underneath:

# Then set up env variable in launch script
export python_cmd="python3.11"
# or in webui-user.sh
python_cmd="python3.11"

When I edit webui.sh, the first thing it says is:

#################################################
# Please do not make any changes to this file,  #
# change the variables in webui-user.sh instead #
#################################################

If I am only supposed change webui-user.sh, why does the README.md only offer webui-user.sh as an alternative?

Next, partially related to the topic: when I add the line python_cmd="python3.11" to webui-user.sh, it does not invoke python 3.11 upon launching the script.

INCOMPATIBLE PYTHON VERSION

This program is tested with 3.10.6 Python, but you have 3.12.3.
If you encounter an error with "RuntimeError: Couldn't install torch." message, 
or any other error regarding unsuccessful package (library) installation,
please downgrade (or upgrade) to the latest version of 3.10 Python
and delete current Python and "venv" folder in WebUI's directory.

You can download 3.10 Python from here: https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3106/

Use --skip-python-version-check to suppress this warning.

And indeed Torch does not want to install. I am guessing that Python 3.11 is compatible with Python 3.10 which is why README.md instructs to install it, otherwise README.md is entirely wrong all together. I'm also guessing that adding the python_cmd="python3.11" line to webui-user.sh is another way of making the program work without removing Python 3.12 from my system. Again, these are things I am inferring but not fully sure of. I can only infer, because README.md does not list Python 3.11 as a dependency under its first paragraph.

Which brings me to the next possible error / typo / old revision language I question. The remaining steps 3 and 4 only say:

3. Run webui.sh.
4. Check webui-user.sh for options.

Since it does not say "run webui-user.sh," I did not try that. Its permissions are not set allowable to run as an application. I presume webui.sh talks to webui-user.sh as a sort of config file to receive environment variables. Correct me if I'm wrong!

But I'm also curious why step 4 would instruct me to check for options in webui-user.sh after launching webui.sh—not before. If setting the environment to Python 3.11 is required to make stable-diffusion-webui work, then I'm curious why Step 4 isn't placed after Step 2.

And why does Step 1 instruct me to alter a launch script which is not yet downloaded until Step 3?

But also this presents a paradox. In order to obtain webui-user.sh, one must run webui.sh first, have it download the program, fail, then access webui-user.sh to add the variable presented in Step 1, then... check for options in Step 4? It makes no sense.

Now when I follow Step 3 and run webui.sh, this happens:

Error: Command '['/home/user/apps/0_ai/stable-diffusion-webui/stable-diffusion-webui/venv/bin/python3.11', '-m', 'ensurepip', '--upgrade', '--default-pip']' returned non-zero exit status 1.
/home/user/apps/0_ai/stable-diffusion-webui/stable-diffusion-webui/venv/bin/python: No module named pip

################################################################
ERROR: Cannot activate python venv, aborting...
################################################################

It wasn't happening before. Not sure what changed. So deleted everything.. the launch script, the subdirectory, followed steps 1-3 again (in the wrong order to make it work) and now it's back to the former error about the incompatible Python version.

So apparently running the launch script in its current form doesn't work and needs options set, so why does it try to? Or is the "No module named pip" problem a separate issue preventing the rest from working perhaps?

Also, since setting the python_cmd="python3.11" variable seems 100% required for functionality, why does it not come as uncommented out of the box, or at least a commented line prepared to uncomment? And why would Step 1 not simply instruct to uncomment this line?

There is, however, a commented line which simply refers to "python3":

# python3 executable
#python_cmd="python3"

I would imagine "python3" would invoke the latest version of Python 3. But since version 3.12 does not work, why does the line not say #python_cmd="python3.11" as written in README.md?

Yep, lots of items needing clarification on the proper instruction steps to making this software work!