Python

Python is already installed with dotbin as a general-purpose script interpreter. However, it can also be used to run python projects. In those cases, we often create a virtual environment to avoid installing thousands of packages to the global environment

Create a virtualenv

In the Python project, run the following to create a virtual environment based on the current python executable

python -m venv venv

It might also be a good idea to add venv to .gitignore

Activate venv

It is important to activate the virtual environment before working on the project.

• Windows: epyvenv is added as a script by dotbin
• Linux: epyvenv should be set as an alias during dotbin setup Running epyvenv once will activate the virtual environment at ./venv. You can run deactivate to exit it.

DANGER

There are projects which ship a "bootstrapper" that automatically installs dependencies if not found. While this is good for general users who aren't familiar with python to be able to easily run the project, it's devastating for me who sometimes forget to run epyvenv.

This scenario can be mitigated by inserting this code into the entrypoint for those projects

import sys
if not sys.executable.endswith("venv/bin/python") and not sys.executable.endswith("venv\\bin\\python"):
    raise AssertionError("You are not in the virtual environment!!!!!")

Deleting venv

Remember to first deactivate the venv, then simply delete the venv directory.