virtualenv (1)

virtualenv [options...] [destination-directory]

virtualenv creates virtual Python executables, each of which can have its own set of installed modules. Programs that require different versions of modules or sets of modules that may be incompatible with others to be installed on the same system without conflicts.

The result is a directory containing its own Python executables (in DIR/bin/pythonVER and DIR/bin/python) and its own module directory containing the standard library as installed by the system. Additional modules may be installed via setuptools, as invoked from the binary directory (DIR/bin/easy_install). The system\(aas site-packages directories will not be available by default, but can be made visible with the --system-site-packages option. They can then be overridden with locally-installed modules.

In addition, a shell script called "activate" will be installed in the bin directory. If sourced, this will cause normal invocations of the Python executable to use the virtual environment.

By running the virtualenv command explicitly under the desired Python interpreter, the user can control which version of Python is created in the virtual environment.

-h, --help

Show summary of options.

--version

Show the version of the program.

-v, --verbose

Be more verbose.

-q, --quiet

Be less verbose; suppress unimportant output.

--clear

Clear out a previously-created virtual Python instance in this location before creating a new one.

-p PYTHON_EXE,--python=PYTHON_EXE

The Python interpreter to use to create the new environment.

--no-site-packages

Ignored (the default). Don\(aat give access to the global site-packages modules to the virtual environment.

--system-site-packages

Give access to the global site-packages modules to the virtual environment.

--always-copy

Always copy files rather than symlinking.

--unzip-setuptools

Unzip Setuptools when installing it. This fixes up scripts and makes all .pth files relative.

--relocatable

Make an EXISTING virtualenv environment relocatable.

--no-setuptools

Do not install setuptools (or pip) in the new virtualenv.

--no-pip

Do not install pip in the new virtualenv.

--extra-search-dir=SEARCH_DIRS

Directory to search for setuptools/distribute/pip distributions in. Can be specified multiple times.

--prompt==PROMPT

Provides an alternative prompt prefix for this environment.

This manual page was originally written by Jeff Licquia <[email protected]>, later rewritten by Carl Chenet <[email protected]>.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.

On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License can be found in /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL.

Copyright © 2007 Jeff Licquia