[IBMiOSS] Any progress on fixing pip in Litmis Spaces?

I'm not sure if this question amounts to fixing SSL/TLS. But in any
case, having a broken pip puts a serious crimp on the usefulness of
Python.

Another problem I'm noticing, which may be related, is that setting up
a Python virtual environment (venv) in Litmis Spaces is also somewhat
broken, because each venv is supposed to have its own pip. And you are
supposed to be able to manually bootstrap pip using the ensurepip
module, which notably *is not supposed to need Internet access*.
(Similarly, pip itself should be able to install local wheels, as
Kevin described; that was part of the point of designing the PTFs the
way they were designed.)

But when I do

python -m ensurepip

at the zsh command line, I get

Ignoring ensurepip failure: pip 1.5.6 requires SSL/TLS

I'm pretty confident these are issues specific to Litmis Spaces,
because none of these problems are present on pub400.com.

But let me quickly point out that Litmis Spaces is very cool.
Providing the browser-based shell and editor was a very good idea. I'm
having a few display and keyboard issues with the shell, but no
deal-breakers.

And, I haven't yet tried out ibm_db and itoolkit, other than
confirming that they import. So there's plenty of potential, even with
the system as-is, that I haven't explored yet.

John Y.