Setup a Virtual Environment for Python
~1 minute read
The advantage of a virtual environment is when you install packages, it is separated from the system installation. Then, it allows you to keep your system Python installation clean. For each project, you can also have separate dependencies.
Linux
For Linux, you should check first if python3-virtualenv package is installed. If not:
sudo apt-get install python3-virtualenv
Then, with the following command, the environment will be created (this is the same in Windows):
python3 -m venv /home/pi/venv
First, you select the name that you want to give to your environment (venv) and then the folder when you want it to be stored. To activate it from “/home/pi” folder:
source venv/bin/activate
If you want to stop working on it:
deactivate
Windows
You can open PowerShell and navigate to the folder where you want to setup your virtualenv. dir command will show the content of your current folder, cd will help you navigate in it. Once in it, type:
python -m venv ./theNameOfYourVirtualEnv
To activate it in PowerShell, go to ./Scripts sub-folder and choose the Activate.ps1 file.