conda-pip-minimal 0.1.4

Conda+Pip minimal env exports

conda cpm

Simple tool to generate minimal versions of Conda environments, also including pip dependencies, for cross-platform sharing.

Built on top of conda tree and pipdeptree. Inspired by conda minify.

Why use conda cpm?

• Conda (especially with mamba) is a great tool to manage Python virtual environments, especially if you need to install some non-Python dependencies, or use compiled dependencies like CUDA. See https://aseifert.com/p/python-environments/ for more on this.

• I use Conda preferentially to install any packages available through it; and provide my virtualenv’s Python version through Conda.

• Some packages are not easily accessible on Conda, and I use pip or poetry (or hatch or your other tool of choice) to pull those packages in.

• This approach works remarkably well, but when it is time to share my environment with others, there are several ways to do it, and they are subtly different in capabilities and issues.

  e.g

  • conda env export, conda env export --from-history, conda list --export

  • For pip-installed packages, pip freeze, pip list --freeze, or whatever your favorite Python package manager provides.

  • conda-lock, pipenv, and other lock file generating tools

• If the exported file is too specific, specifying every dependency and build identifier, it often cannot be reproduced on a different platform because these are not portable.

• If you use both conda and pip, these tools will typically be unaware of each other, generating overlapping requirements files.

How does conda cpm solve this?

• conda cpm constructs a minimal environment.yml file, with only the "leaves" of the dependency tree, both for pip and conda.

• It retains information about which packages came from Conda and which came from Pip, but does not include dependencies in the export.

• It specifies exact versions by default, but it can optionally relax the version requirements to being flexible at the patch level or minor level (semver).

• It can optionally include info about which Conda channel a package came from, the Python version, or any manually specified packages.

• It does not include system-specific information like the Conda environment prefix.

Installation

via pip

pip install conda-pip-minimal

via pipx

pipx install conda-pip-minimal

Run without installing

pipx run conda-pip-minimal --help

Usage

The script for this package is named conda-cpm; so it can be run like conda cpm

$ conda cpm [OPTIONS]

Options:

• -p, --prefix PATH: Conda env prefix
• -n, --name TEXT: Conda env name
• --pip / --no-pip: Include pip dependencies [default: True]
• --relax [none|major|minor|full]: [default: full]
• --include TEXT: Packages to always include [default: python, pip]
• --exclude TEXT: Packages to always exclude [default: ]
• --channel / --no-channel: Add channel to conda dependencies [default: False]
• --debug / --no-debug: [default: False]
• --help: Show this message and exit.

Examples

Here are a few example runs for this package:

From within the conda environment:

❯ conda cpm
dependencies:
- python=3.8.13
- pip=22.2.2
- pip:
  - conda-pip-minimal==0.1.0
  - ipython==8.5.0
  - snoop==0.4.2
  - trio-typing==0.7.0
name: /home/venky/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv

Specifying the conda environment

❯ conda cpm --prefix ~/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv
dependencies:
- pip=22.2.2
- python=3.8.13
- pip:
  - conda-pip-minimal==0.1.0
  - ipython==8.5.0
  - snoop==0.4.2
  - trio-typing==0.7.0
name: /home/venky/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv

Exclude packages

❯ conda cpm --prefix ~/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv --exclude snoop --exclude trio-typing
dependencies:
- python=3.8.13
- pip=22.2.2
- pip:
  - conda-pip-minimal==0.1.0
  - ipython==8.5.0
name: /home/venky/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv

Include a normally-excluded dependency

❯ conda cpm --prefix ~/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv --include trio
dependencies:
- trio=0.22.0
- pip:
  - conda-pip-minimal==0.1.0
  - ipython==8.5.0
  - snoop==0.4.2
  - trio-typing==0.7.0
name: /home/venky/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv

Specify conda channels

❯ conda cpm --prefix ~/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv --channel
dependencies:
- conda-forge::python=3.8.13
- conda-forge::pip=22.2.2
- pip:
  - conda-pip-minimal==0.1.0
  - ipython==8.5.0
  - snoop==0.4.2
  - trio-typing==0.7.0
name: /home/venky/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv

Relax versions

❯ conda cpm --prefix ~/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv --relax minor
dependencies:
- python=3.8.*
- pip=22.2.*
- pip:
  - conda-pip-minimal==0.1.*
  - ipython==8.5.*
  - snoop==0.4.*
  - trio-typing==0.7.*
name: /home/venky/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv

Skip pip dependencies

Why would you want to do this, though?

❯ conda cpm --prefix ~/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv --no-pip
dependencies:
- pip=22.2.2
- python=3.8.13
name: /home/venky/dev/conda-pip-minimal/.venv