"venv" — Creation of virtual environments
*****************************************

Added in version 3.3.

**Source code:** Lib/venv/

======================================================================

The "venv" module supports creating lightweight “virtual
environments”, each with their own independent set of Python packages
installed in their "site" directories. A virtual environment is
created on top of an existing Python installation, known as the
virtual environment’s “base” Python, and by default is isolated from
the packages in the base environment, so that only those explicitly
installed in the virtual environment are available. See Virtual
Environments and "site"’s virtual environments documentation for more
information.

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 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.

See also:

  Python Packaging User Guide: Creating and using virtual environments

Availability: not Android, not iOS, not WASI.

This module is not supported on mobile platforms or WebAssembly
platforms.


Creating virtual environments
=============================

Virtual environments are created by executing the "venv" module:

   python -m venv /path/to/new/virtual/environment

This creates the target directory (including parent directories as
needed) and places a "pyvenv.cfg" file in it with a "home" key
pointing to the Python installation from which the command was run. It
also creates a "bin" (or "Scripts" on Windows) subdirectory containing
a copy or symlink of the Python executable (as appropriate for the
platform or arguments used at environment creation time). It also
creates a "lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages" subdirectory (on Windows, this
is "Lib\site-packages"). If an existing directory is specified, it
will be re-used.

Changed in version 3.5: The use of "venv" is now recommended for
creating virtual environments.

Deprecated since version 3.6, removed in version 3.8: **pyvenv** was
the recommended tool for creating virtual environments for Python 3.3
and 3.4, and replaced in 3.5 by executing "venv" directly.

On Windows, invoke the "venv" command as follows:

   PS> python -m venv C:\path\to\new\virtual\environment

The command, if run with "-h", will show the available options:

   usage: venv [-h] [--system-site-packages] [--symlinks | --copies] [--clear]
               [--upgrade] [--without-pip] [--prompt PROMPT] [--upgrade-deps]
               [--without-scm-ignore-files]
               ENV_DIR [ENV_DIR ...]

   Creates virtual Python environments in one or more target directories.

   Once an environment has been created, you may wish to activate it, e.g. by
   sourcing an activate script in its bin directory.

ENV_DIR

   A required argument specifying the directory to create the
   environment in.

--system-site-packages

   Give the virtual environment access to the system site-packages
   directory.

--symlinks

   Try to use symlinks rather than copies, when symlinks are not the
   default for the platform.

--copies

   Try to use copies rather than symlinks, even when symlinks are the
   default for the platform.

--clear

   Delete the contents of the environment directory if it already
   exists, before environment creation.

--upgrade

   Upgrade the environment directory to use this version of Python,
   assuming Python has been upgraded in-place.

--without-pip

   Skips installing or upgrading pip in the virtual environment (pip
   is bootstrapped by default).

--prompt <PROMPT>

   Provides an alternative prompt prefix for this environment.

--upgrade-deps

   Upgrade core dependencies (pip) to the latest version in PyPI.

--without-scm-ignore-files

   Skips adding SCM ignore files to the environment directory (Git is
   supported by default).

Changed in version 3.4: Installs pip by default, added the "--without-
pip"  and "--copies" options.

Changed in version 3.4: In earlier versions, if the target directory
already existed, an error was raised, unless the "--clear" or "--
upgrade" option was provided.

Changed in version 3.9: Add "--upgrade-deps" option to upgrade pip +
setuptools to the latest on PyPI.

Changed in version 3.12: "setuptools" is no longer a core venv
dependency.

Changed in version 3.13: Added the "--without-scm-ignore-files"
option.

Changed in version 3.13: "venv" now creates a ".gitignore" file for
Git by default.

Note:

  While symlinks are supported on Windows, they are not recommended.
  Of particular note is that double-clicking "python.exe" in File
  Explorer will resolve the symlink eagerly and ignore the virtual
  environment.

Note:

  On Microsoft Windows, it may be required to enable the
  "Activate.ps1" script by setting the execution policy for the user.
  You can do this by issuing the following PowerShell command:

     PS C:\> Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

  See About Execution Policies for more information.

The created "pyvenv.cfg" file also includes the "include-system-site-
packages" key, set to "true" if "venv" is run with the "--system-site-
packages" option, "false" otherwise.

Unless the "--without-pip" option is given, "ensurepip" will be
invoked to bootstrap "pip" into the virtual environment.

Multiple paths can be given to "venv", in which case an identical
virtual environment will be created, according to the given options,
at each provided path.


How venvs work
==============

When a Python interpreter is running from a virtual environment,
"sys.prefix" and "sys.exec_prefix" point to the directories of the
virtual environment, whereas "sys.base_prefix" and
"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 "PATH", so that running **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 ("*<venv>*" must be replaced by
the path to the directory containing the virtual environment):

+---------------+--------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| Platform      | Shell        | Command to activate virtual environment            |
|===============|==============|====================================================|
| POSIX         | bash/zsh     | "$ source *<venv>*/bin/activate"                   |
|               +--------------+----------------------------------------------------+
|               | fish         | "$ source *<venv>*/bin/activate.fish"              |
|               +--------------+----------------------------------------------------+
|               | csh/tcsh     | "$ source *<venv>*/bin/activate.csh"               |
|               +--------------+----------------------------------------------------+
|               | pwsh         | "$ *<venv>*/bin/Activate.ps1"                      |
+---------------+--------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| Windows       | cmd.exe      | "C:\> *<venv>*\Scripts\activate.bat"               |
|               +--------------+----------------------------------------------------+
|               | PowerShell   | "PS C:\> *<venv>*\Scripts\Activate.ps1"            |
+---------------+--------------+----------------------------------------------------+

Added in version 3.4: **fish** and **csh** activation scripts.

Added in version 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, "#!/*<path-to-venv>*/bin/python". This means that the
script will run with that interpreter regardless of the value of
"PATH". On Windows, “shebang” line processing is supported if you have
the Python install manager 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 "PATH".

When a virtual environment has been activated, the "VIRTUAL_ENV"
environment variable is set to the path of the environment. Since
explicitly activating a virtual environment is not required to use it,
"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).


API
===

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
"EnvBuilder" class.

class venv.EnvBuilder(system_site_packages=False, clear=False, symlinks=False, upgrade=False, with_pip=False, prompt=None, upgrade_deps=False, *, scm_ignore_files=frozenset())

   The "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 "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
     "create_git_ignore_file()".

   Changed in version 3.4: Added the "with_pip" parameter

   Changed in version 3.6: Added the "prompt" parameter

   Changed in version 3.9: Added the "upgrade_deps" parameter

   Changed in version 3.13: Added the "scm_ignore_files" parameter

   "EnvBuilder" may be used as a base class.

   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 "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 "ensure_directories()",
      "create_configuration()", "setup_python()", "setup_scripts()"
      and "post_setup()" can be overridden.

   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
      "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 "types.SimpleNamespace" with
      the following attributes:

      * "env_dir" - The location of the virtual environment. Used for
        "__VENV_DIR__" in activation scripts (see
        "install_scripts()").

      * "env_name" - The name of the virtual environment. Used for
        "__VENV_NAME__" in activation scripts (see
        "install_scripts()").

      * "prompt" - The prompt to be used by the activation scripts.
        Used for "__VENV_PROMPT__" in activation scripts (see
        "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 "install_scripts()").

      * "env_exe" - The name of the Python interpreter in the virtual
        environment. Used for "__VENV_PYTHON__" in activation scripts
        (see "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.

      Changed in version 3.11: The *venv* sysconfig installation
      scheme is used to construct the paths of the created
      directories.

      Changed in version 3.12: The attribute "lib_path" was added to
      the context, and the context object was documented.

   create_configuration(context)

      Creates the "pyvenv.cfg" configuration file in the environment.

   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.

   setup_scripts(context)

      Installs activation scripts appropriate to the platform into the
      virtual environment.

   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.

      Added in version 3.9.

      Changed in version 3.12: setuptools is no longer a core venv
      dependency.

   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.

   install_scripts(context, path)

      This method can be called from "setup_scripts()" or
      "post_setup()" in subclasses to assist in installing custom
      scripts into the virtual environment.

      *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
      "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).

   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.

      Added in version 3.13.

   Changed in version 3.7.2: Windows now uses redirector scripts for
   "python[w].exe" instead of copying the actual binaries. In 3.7.2
   only "setup_python()" does nothing unless running from a build in
   the source tree.

   Changed in version 3.7.3: Windows copies the redirector scripts as
   part of "setup_python()" instead of "setup_scripts()". This was not
   the case in 3.7.2. When using symlinks, the original executables
   will be linked.

There is also a module-level convenience function:

venv.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 "EnvBuilder" with the given keyword arguments, and call
   its "create()" method with the *env_dir* argument.

   Added in version 3.3.

   Changed in version 3.4: Added the *with_pip* parameter

   Changed in version 3.6: Added the *prompt* parameter

   Changed in version 3.9: Added the *upgrade_deps* parameter

   Changed in version 3.13: Added the *scm_ignore_files* parameter


An example of extending "EnvBuilder"
====================================

The following script shows how to extend "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 urlsplit
   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, _, _ = urlsplit(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.
