Managing Python Virtual Environments
date
Jun 19, 2023
thumbnail
slug
manage-virtual-environments-with-virtualenvwrapper
author
Can Durmus
status
Published
tags
Linux
Python
Raspberry Pi
summary
Clean and neat Python virtual environments on Raspberry Pi thanks to the virtualenvwrapper.
type
Post
updatedAt
Jul 1, 2023 06:16 PM
Python environments can get complex and problematic without virtual environments. We can use venv module that comes
built-in with Python to manage it, but it may get complex too after a while. For these needs specifically,
virtualenvwrapper has been developed.
1. Install virtualenvwrapper
Install virtualenvwrapper with pip
sudo pip3 install virtualenvwrapper
2. Find The virtualenvwrapper.sh
Virtualenvwrapper uses a sh file to initialize all the commands that we are going to use. In order to make it executable
at the beginning of all sessions, we are going to add it to the .bashrc
But first, we need to know where it is. To check the location of the
virtualenvwrapper.sh, run the command below.which virtualenvwrapper.sh
Output on my system is as follows.
3. Add virtualenvwrapper.sh to the .bashrc
In order to add it to the
.bashrc run the following commands, do not forget to replace the location if it is
different.echo 'export VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_PYTHON=/usr/bin/python3' >>~/.bashrcecho 'export VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_VIRTUALENV=/usr/local/bin/virtualenv' >>~/.bashrcecho 'source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh' >>~/.bashrcexec "$SHELL"echo $WORKON_HOME
When we execute
echo $WORKON_HOME if we can get a location to a .virtualenvs directory, it means that our
installation was successful.
4. Create a Virtual Environment
In order to create a virtual environment, you can use the
mkvirtualenv command with a name of your choice for your new
virtual environment.mkvirtualenv testenv
As can be seen above, a new virtual environment is created and activated. If we check the locations of Python and pip we
can see that they are pointing to a different location than the system locations. Also, we can validate that we are
working on a different environment by checking the installed pip packages.
5. Listing and Activating Virtual Environments
We can list the available virtual environments with the
workon command.workon
Also, we can activate the virtual environment of our choice with the
workon command with the name of our virtual
environment.workon testenv
6. Deactivating a Virtual Environment
In order to deactivate a virtual environment, you can use the
deactivate command. You can check if a virtual
environment is activated or not by checking the beginning of your terminal name.deactivate
