1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
|
:mod:`venv` --- Creation of virtual environments
================================================
.. module:: venv
:synopsis: Creation of virtual environments.
.. moduleauthor:: Vinay Sajip <vinay_sajip@yahoo.co.uk>
.. sectionauthor:: Vinay Sajip <vinay_sajip@yahoo.co.uk>
.. versionadded:: 3.3
**Source code:** :source:`Lib/venv/`
.. index:: pair: Environments; virtual
--------------
.. _venv-def:
.. _venv-intro:
The :mod:`!venv` module supports creating lightweight "virtual environments",
each with their own independent set of Python packages installed in
their :mod:`site` directories.
A virtual environment is created on top of an existing
Python installation, known as the virtual environment's "base" Python, and may
optionally be isolated from the packages in the base environment,
so only those explicitly installed in the virtual environment are available.
When used from within a virtual environment, common installation tools such as
`pip`_ will install Python packages into a virtual environment
without needing to be told to do so explicitly.
A virtual environment is (amongst other things):
* Used to contain a specific Python interpreter and software libraries and
binaries which are needed to support a project (library or application). These
are by default isolated from software in other virtual environments and Python
interpreters and libraries installed in the operating system.
* Contained in a directory, conventionally either named ``venv`` or ``.venv`` in
the project directory, or under a container directory for lots of virtual
environments, such as ``~/.virtualenvs``.
* Not checked into source control systems such as Git.
* Considered as disposable -- it should be simple to delete and recreate it from
scratch. You don't place any project code in the environment
* Not considered as movable or copyable -- you just recreate the same
environment in the target location.
See :pep:`405` for more background on Python virtual environments.
.. seealso::
`Python Packaging User Guide: Creating and using virtual environments
<https://packaging.python.org/guides/installing-using-pip-and-virtual-environments/#creating-a-virtual-environment>`__
.. include:: ../includes/wasm-notavail.rst
Creating virtual environments
-----------------------------
.. include:: /using/venv-create.inc
.. _venv-explanation:
How venvs work
--------------
When a Python interpreter is running from a virtual environment,
:data:`sys.prefix` and :data:`sys.exec_prefix`
point to the directories of the virtual environment,
whereas :data:`sys.base_prefix` and :data:`sys.base_exec_prefix`
point to those of the base Python used to create the environment.
It is sufficient to check
``sys.prefix != sys.base_prefix`` to determine if the current interpreter is
running from a virtual environment.
A virtual environment may be "activated" using a script in its binary directory
(``bin`` on POSIX; ``Scripts`` on Windows).
This will prepend that directory to your :envvar:`PATH`, so that running
:program:`python` will invoke the environment's Python interpreter
and you can run installed scripts without having to use their full path.
The invocation of the activation script is platform-specific
(:samp:`{<venv>}` must be replaced by the path to the directory
containing the virtual environment):
+-------------+------------+--------------------------------------------------+
| Platform | Shell | Command to activate virtual environment |
+=============+============+==================================================+
| POSIX | bash/zsh | :samp:`$ source {<venv>}/bin/activate` |
| +------------+--------------------------------------------------+
| | fish | :samp:`$ source {<venv>}/bin/activate.fish` |
| +------------+--------------------------------------------------+
| | csh/tcsh | :samp:`$ source {<venv>}/bin/activate.csh` |
| +------------+--------------------------------------------------+
| | PowerShell | :samp:`$ {<venv>}/bin/Activate.ps1` |
+-------------+------------+--------------------------------------------------+
| Windows | cmd.exe | :samp:`C:\\> {<venv>}\\Scripts\\activate.bat` |
| +------------+--------------------------------------------------+
| | PowerShell | :samp:`PS C:\\> {<venv>}\\Scripts\\Activate.ps1` |
+-------------+------------+--------------------------------------------------+
.. versionadded:: 3.4
:program:`fish` and :program:`csh` activation scripts.
.. versionadded:: 3.8
PowerShell activation scripts installed under POSIX for PowerShell Core
support.
You don't specifically *need* to activate a virtual environment,
as you can just specify the full path to that environment's
Python interpreter when invoking Python.
Furthermore, all scripts installed in the environment
should be runnable without activating it.
In order to achieve this, scripts installed into virtual environments have
a "shebang" line which points to the environment's Python interpreter,
i.e. :samp:`#!/{<path-to-venv>}/bin/python`.
This means that the script will run with that interpreter regardless of the
value of :envvar:`PATH`. On Windows, "shebang" line processing is supported if
you have the :ref:`launcher` installed. Thus, double-clicking an installed
script in a Windows Explorer window should run it with the correct interpreter
without the environment needing to be activated or on the :envvar:`PATH`.
When a virtual environment has been activated, the :envvar:`!VIRTUAL_ENV`
environment variable is set to the path of the environment.
Since explicitly activating a virtual environment is not required to use it,
:envvar:`!VIRTUAL_ENV` cannot be relied upon to determine
whether a virtual environment is being used.
.. warning:: Because scripts installed in environments should not expect the
environment to be activated, their shebang lines contain the absolute paths
to their environment's interpreters. Because of this, environments are
inherently non-portable, in the general case. You should always have a
simple means of recreating an environment (for example, if you have a
requirements file ``requirements.txt``, you can invoke ``pip install -r
requirements.txt`` using the environment's ``pip`` to install all of the
packages needed by the environment). If for any reason you need to move the
environment to a new location, you should recreate it at the desired
location and delete the one at the old location. If you move an environment
because you moved a parent directory of it, you should recreate the
environment in its new location. Otherwise, software installed into the
environment may not work as expected.
You can deactivate a virtual environment by typing ``deactivate`` in your shell.
The exact mechanism is platform-specific and is an internal implementation
detail (typically, a script or shell function will be used).
.. _venv-api:
API
---
.. highlight:: python
The high-level method described above makes use of a simple API which provides
mechanisms for third-party virtual environment creators to customize environment
creation according to their needs, the :class:`EnvBuilder` class.
.. class:: EnvBuilder(system_site_packages=False, clear=False, \
symlinks=False, upgrade=False, with_pip=False, \
prompt=None, upgrade_deps=False, \
*, scm_ignore_files=frozenset())
The :class:`EnvBuilder` class accepts the following keyword arguments on
instantiation:
* ``system_site_packages`` -- a Boolean value indicating that the system Python
site-packages should be available to the environment (defaults to ``False``).
* ``clear`` -- a Boolean value which, if true, will delete the contents of
any existing target directory, before creating the environment.
* ``symlinks`` -- a Boolean value indicating whether to attempt to symlink the
Python binary rather than copying.
* ``upgrade`` -- a Boolean value which, if true, will upgrade an existing
environment with the running Python - for use when that Python has been
upgraded in-place (defaults to ``False``).
* ``with_pip`` -- a Boolean value which, if true, ensures pip is
installed in the virtual environment. This uses :mod:`ensurepip` with
the ``--default-pip`` option.
* ``prompt`` -- a String to be used after virtual environment is activated
(defaults to ``None`` which means directory name of the environment would
be used). If the special string ``"."`` is provided, the basename of the
current directory is used as the prompt.
* ``upgrade_deps`` -- Update the base venv modules to the latest on PyPI
* ``scm_ignore_files`` -- Create ignore files based for the specified source
control managers (SCM) in the iterable. Support is defined by having a
method named ``create_{scm}_ignore_file``. The only value supported by
default is ``"git"`` via :meth:`create_git_ignore_file`.
.. versionchanged:: 3.4
Added the ``with_pip`` parameter
.. versionadded:: 3.6
Added the ``prompt`` parameter
.. versionadded:: 3.9
Added the ``upgrade_deps`` parameter
.. versionadded:: 3.13
Added the ``scm_ignore_files`` parameter
Creators of third-party virtual environment tools will be free to use the
provided :class:`EnvBuilder` class as a base class.
The returned env-builder is an object which has a method, ``create``:
.. method:: create(env_dir)
Create a virtual environment by specifying the target directory
(absolute or relative to the current directory) which is to contain the
virtual environment. The ``create`` method will either create the
environment in the specified directory, or raise an appropriate
exception.
The ``create`` method of the :class:`EnvBuilder` class illustrates the
hooks available for subclass customization::
def create(self, env_dir):
"""
Create a virtualized Python environment in a directory.
env_dir is the target directory to create an environment in.
"""
env_dir = os.path.abspath(env_dir)
context = self.ensure_directories(env_dir)
self.create_configuration(context)
self.setup_python(context)
self.setup_scripts(context)
self.post_setup(context)
Each of the methods :meth:`ensure_directories`,
:meth:`create_configuration`, :meth:`setup_python`,
:meth:`setup_scripts` and :meth:`post_setup` can be overridden.
.. method:: ensure_directories(env_dir)
Creates the environment directory and all necessary subdirectories that
don't already exist, and returns a context object. This context object
is just a holder for attributes (such as paths) for use by the other
methods. If the :class:`EnvBuilder` is created with the arg
``clear=True``, contents of the environment directory will be cleared
and then all necessary subdirectories will be recreated.
The returned context object is a :class:`types.SimpleNamespace` with the
following attributes:
* ``env_dir`` - The location of the virtual environment. Used for
``__VENV_DIR__`` in activation scripts (see :meth:`install_scripts`).
* ``env_name`` - The name of the virtual environment. Used for
``__VENV_NAME__`` in activation scripts (see :meth:`install_scripts`).
* ``prompt`` - The prompt to be used by the activation scripts. Used for
``__VENV_PROMPT__`` in activation scripts (see :meth:`install_scripts`).
* ``executable`` - The underlying Python executable used by the virtual
environment. This takes into account the case where a virtual environment
is created from another virtual environment.
* ``inc_path`` - The include path for the virtual environment.
* ``lib_path`` - The purelib path for the virtual environment.
* ``bin_path`` - The script path for the virtual environment.
* ``bin_name`` - The name of the script path relative to the virtual
environment location. Used for ``__VENV_BIN_NAME__`` in activation
scripts (see :meth:`install_scripts`).
* ``env_exe`` - The name of the Python interpreter in the virtual
environment. Used for ``__VENV_PYTHON__`` in activation scripts
(see :meth:`install_scripts`).
* ``env_exec_cmd`` - The name of the Python interpreter, taking into
account filesystem redirections. This can be used to run Python in
the virtual environment.
.. versionchanged:: 3.12
The attribute ``lib_path`` was added to the context, and the context
object was documented.
.. versionchanged:: 3.11
The *venv*
:ref:`sysconfig installation scheme <installation_paths>`
is used to construct the paths of the created directories.
.. method:: create_configuration(context)
Creates the ``pyvenv.cfg`` configuration file in the environment.
.. method:: setup_python(context)
Creates a copy or symlink to the Python executable in the environment.
On POSIX systems, if a specific executable ``python3.x`` was used,
symlinks to ``python`` and ``python3`` will be created pointing to that
executable, unless files with those names already exist.
.. method:: setup_scripts(context)
Installs activation scripts appropriate to the platform into the virtual
environment.
.. method:: upgrade_dependencies(context)
Upgrades the core venv dependency packages (currently ``pip``)
in the environment. This is done by shelling out to the
``pip`` executable in the environment.
.. versionadded:: 3.9
.. versionchanged:: 3.12
``setuptools`` is no longer a core venv dependency.
.. method:: post_setup(context)
A placeholder method which can be overridden in third party
implementations to pre-install packages in the virtual environment or
perform other post-creation steps.
.. versionchanged:: 3.7.2
Windows now uses redirector scripts for ``python[w].exe`` instead of
copying the actual binaries. In 3.7.2 only :meth:`setup_python` does
nothing unless running from a build in the source tree.
.. versionchanged:: 3.7.3
Windows copies the redirector scripts as part of :meth:`setup_python`
instead of :meth:`setup_scripts`. This was not the case in 3.7.2.
When using symlinks, the original executables will be linked.
In addition, :class:`EnvBuilder` provides this utility method that can be
called from :meth:`setup_scripts` or :meth:`post_setup` in subclasses to
assist in installing custom scripts into the virtual environment.
.. method:: install_scripts(context, path)
*path* is the path to a directory that should contain subdirectories
"common", "posix", "nt", each containing scripts destined for the bin
directory in the environment. The contents of "common" and the
directory corresponding to :data:`os.name` are copied after some text
replacement of placeholders:
* ``__VENV_DIR__`` is replaced with the absolute path of the environment
directory.
* ``__VENV_NAME__`` is replaced with the environment name (final path
segment of environment directory).
* ``__VENV_PROMPT__`` is replaced with the prompt (the environment
name surrounded by parentheses and with a following space)
* ``__VENV_BIN_NAME__`` is replaced with the name of the bin directory
(either ``bin`` or ``Scripts``).
* ``__VENV_PYTHON__`` is replaced with the absolute path of the
environment's executable.
The directories are allowed to exist (for when an existing environment
is being upgraded).
.. method:: create_git_ignore_file(context)
Creates a ``.gitignore`` file within the virtual environment that causes
the entire directory to be ignored by the ``git`` source control manager.
.. versionadded:: 3.13
There is also a module-level convenience function:
.. function:: create(env_dir, system_site_packages=False, clear=False, \
symlinks=False, with_pip=False, prompt=None, \
upgrade_deps=False, *, scm_ignore_files=frozenset())
Create an :class:`EnvBuilder` with the given keyword arguments, and call its
:meth:`~EnvBuilder.create` method with the *env_dir* argument.
.. versionadded:: 3.3
.. versionchanged:: 3.4
Added the ``with_pip`` parameter
.. versionchanged:: 3.6
Added the ``prompt`` parameter
.. versionchanged:: 3.9
Added the ``upgrade_deps`` parameter
.. versionchanged:: 3.13
Added the ``scm_ignore_files`` parameter
An example of extending ``EnvBuilder``
--------------------------------------
The following script shows how to extend :class:`EnvBuilder` by implementing a
subclass which installs setuptools and pip into a created virtual environment::
import os
import os.path
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
import sys
from threading import Thread
from urllib.parse import urlparse
from urllib.request import urlretrieve
import venv
class ExtendedEnvBuilder(venv.EnvBuilder):
"""
This builder installs setuptools and pip so that you can pip or
easy_install other packages into the created virtual environment.
:param nodist: If true, setuptools and pip are not installed into the
created virtual environment.
:param nopip: If true, pip is not installed into the created
virtual environment.
:param progress: If setuptools or pip are installed, the progress of the
installation can be monitored by passing a progress
callable. If specified, it is called with two
arguments: a string indicating some progress, and a
context indicating where the string is coming from.
The context argument can have one of three values:
'main', indicating that it is called from virtualize()
itself, and 'stdout' and 'stderr', which are obtained
by reading lines from the output streams of a subprocess
which is used to install the app.
If a callable is not specified, default progress
information is output to sys.stderr.
"""
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
self.nodist = kwargs.pop('nodist', False)
self.nopip = kwargs.pop('nopip', False)
self.progress = kwargs.pop('progress', None)
self.verbose = kwargs.pop('verbose', False)
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
def post_setup(self, context):
"""
Set up any packages which need to be pre-installed into the
virtual environment being created.
:param context: The information for the virtual environment
creation request being processed.
"""
os.environ['VIRTUAL_ENV'] = context.env_dir
if not self.nodist:
self.install_setuptools(context)
# Can't install pip without setuptools
if not self.nopip and not self.nodist:
self.install_pip(context)
def reader(self, stream, context):
"""
Read lines from a subprocess' output stream and either pass to a progress
callable (if specified) or write progress information to sys.stderr.
"""
progress = self.progress
while True:
s = stream.readline()
if not s:
break
if progress is not None:
progress(s, context)
else:
if not self.verbose:
sys.stderr.write('.')
else:
sys.stderr.write(s.decode('utf-8'))
sys.stderr.flush()
stream.close()
def install_script(self, context, name, url):
_, _, path, _, _, _ = urlparse(url)
fn = os.path.split(path)[-1]
binpath = context.bin_path
distpath = os.path.join(binpath, fn)
# Download script into the virtual environment's binaries folder
urlretrieve(url, distpath)
progress = self.progress
if self.verbose:
term = '\n'
else:
term = ''
if progress is not None:
progress('Installing %s ...%s' % (name, term), 'main')
else:
sys.stderr.write('Installing %s ...%s' % (name, term))
sys.stderr.flush()
# Install in the virtual environment
args = [context.env_exe, fn]
p = Popen(args, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE, cwd=binpath)
t1 = Thread(target=self.reader, args=(p.stdout, 'stdout'))
t1.start()
t2 = Thread(target=self.reader, args=(p.stderr, 'stderr'))
t2.start()
p.wait()
t1.join()
t2.join()
if progress is not None:
progress('done.', 'main')
else:
sys.stderr.write('done.\n')
# Clean up - no longer needed
os.unlink(distpath)
def install_setuptools(self, context):
"""
Install setuptools in the virtual environment.
:param context: The information for the virtual environment
creation request being processed.
"""
url = "https://bootstrap.pypa.io/ez_setup.py"
self.install_script(context, 'setuptools', url)
# clear up the setuptools archive which gets downloaded
pred = lambda o: o.startswith('setuptools-') and o.endswith('.tar.gz')
files = filter(pred, os.listdir(context.bin_path))
for f in files:
f = os.path.join(context.bin_path, f)
os.unlink(f)
def install_pip(self, context):
"""
Install pip in the virtual environment.
:param context: The information for the virtual environment
creation request being processed.
"""
url = 'https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py'
self.install_script(context, 'pip', url)
def main(args=None):
import argparse
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog=__name__,
description='Creates virtual Python '
'environments in one or '
'more target '
'directories.')
parser.add_argument('dirs', metavar='ENV_DIR', nargs='+',
help='A directory in which to create the '
'virtual environment.')
parser.add_argument('--no-setuptools', default=False,
action='store_true', dest='nodist',
help="Don't install setuptools or pip in the "
"virtual environment.")
parser.add_argument('--no-pip', default=False,
action='store_true', dest='nopip',
help="Don't install pip in the virtual "
"environment.")
parser.add_argument('--system-site-packages', default=False,
action='store_true', dest='system_site',
help='Give the virtual environment access to the '
'system site-packages dir.')
if os.name == 'nt':
use_symlinks = False
else:
use_symlinks = True
parser.add_argument('--symlinks', default=use_symlinks,
action='store_true', dest='symlinks',
help='Try to use symlinks rather than copies, '
'when symlinks are not the default for '
'the platform.')
parser.add_argument('--clear', default=False, action='store_true',
dest='clear', help='Delete the contents of the '
'virtual environment '
'directory if it already '
'exists, before virtual '
'environment creation.')
parser.add_argument('--upgrade', default=False, action='store_true',
dest='upgrade', help='Upgrade the virtual '
'environment directory to '
'use this version of '
'Python, assuming Python '
'has been upgraded '
'in-place.')
parser.add_argument('--verbose', default=False, action='store_true',
dest='verbose', help='Display the output '
'from the scripts which '
'install setuptools and pip.')
options = parser.parse_args(args)
if options.upgrade and options.clear:
raise ValueError('you cannot supply --upgrade and --clear together.')
builder = ExtendedEnvBuilder(system_site_packages=options.system_site,
clear=options.clear,
symlinks=options.symlinks,
upgrade=options.upgrade,
nodist=options.nodist,
nopip=options.nopip,
verbose=options.verbose)
for d in options.dirs:
builder.create(d)
if __name__ == '__main__':
rc = 1
try:
main()
rc = 0
except Exception as e:
print('Error: %s' % e, file=sys.stderr)
sys.exit(rc)
This script is also available for download `online
<https://gist.github.com/vsajip/4673395>`_.
.. _setuptools: https://pypi.org/project/setuptools/
.. _pip: https://pypi.org/project/pip/
|