CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythondependenciesdependency-management
Ton Machielsen
Ton Machielsen

Reputation: 119

Is it smart to "clean out" my Python environment?

I am a Python beginner and am running Python on the Mac. I started to read up on pipenv and virtualenv and checked how my system was configured. Turns out that i have a Godzillian amount of packages installed under my systems python environment. AFAIU from pipenv and virtualenv this is exactly what you don't want to happen.

So now i am looking to correct this and apply best practices by hosting all dependencies in project folders but before to do this my question: Is it smart to "clean out" the system environment and host everything in project folders? Or should i keep the system environment as is it and just start adding dependencies into newly created project folders? I don't care about disk space, i do care about dependency conflicts.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 323

Answers (1)

user29449
user29449

Reputation: 26

You should absolutely do not want to clear out your system environment. The system version of python will be used by your operating system and if you damage it, who knows what havoc you'll cause.

Ideally, you want to leave your system's version of python alone, and then have your own, separate version of python which you actually use for development, where you control the packages etc.

A popular way to install a version of python and manage packages is to use anaconda: https://www.anaconda.com/ , so I'd suggest looking into that.

Upvotes: 1

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