Installation¶
via pipx¶
virtualenv is a CLI tool that needs a Python interpreter to run. If you already have a Python 3.5+
interpreter the best is to use pipx to install virtualenv into an isolated environment. This has the added
benefit that later you’ll be able to upgrade virtualenv without affecting other parts of the system.
pipx install virtualenv
virtualenv --help
via pip¶
Alternatively you can install it within the global Python interpreter itself (perhaps as a user package via the
--user
flag). Be cautious if you are using a python install that is managed by your operating system or
another package manager. pip
might not coordinate with those tools, and may leave your system in an
inconsistent state. Note, if you go down this path you need to ensure pip is new enough per the subsections below:
python -m pip install --user virtualenv
python -m virtualenv --help
wheel¶
Installing virtualenv via a wheel (default with pip) requires an installer that can understand the python-requires
tag (see PEP-503), with pip this is version 9.0.0
(released 2016
November). Furthermore, in case you’re not installing it via the PyPi you need to be using a mirror that correctly
forwards the python-requires
tag (notably the OpenStack mirrors don’t do this, or older
devpi versions - added with version 4.7.0
).
sdist¶
When installing via a source distribution you need an installer that handles the
PEP-517 specification. In case of pip
this is version 18.0.0
or
later (released on 2018 July). If you cannot upgrade your pip to support this you need to ensure that the build
requirements from pyproject.toml are satisfied
before triggering the install.
via zipapp¶
You can use virtualenv without installing it too. We publish a Python zipapp, you can just download this from https://bootstrap.pypa.io/virtualenv.pyz and invoke this package with a python interpreter:
python virtualenv.pyz --help
The root level zipapp is always the current latest release. To get the last supported zipapp against a given python
minor release use the link https://bootstrap.pypa.io/virtualenv/x.y/virtualenv.pyz
, e.g. for the last virtualenv
supporting Python 2.7 use
https://bootstrap.pypa.io/virtualenv/2.7/virtualenv.pyz.
If you are looking for past version of virtualenv.pyz they are available here: https://github.com/pypa/get-virtualenv/blob/<virtualenv version>/public/<python version>/virtualenv.pyz?raw=true
via setup.py
¶
We don’t recommend and officially support this method. One should prefer using an installer that supports
PEP-517 interface, such as pip 19.0.0
or later. That being said you
might be able to still install a package via this method if you satisfy build dependencies before calling the install
command (as described under sdist).
latest unreleased¶
Installing an unreleased version is discouraged and should be only done for testing purposes. If you do so you’ll need
a pip version of at least 18.0.0
and use the following command:
pip install git+https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv.git@main
Python and OS Compatibility¶
virtualenv works with the following Python interpreter implementations:
This means virtualenv works on the latest patch version of each of these minor versions. Previous patch versions are supported on a best effort approach.
CPython is shipped in multiple forms, and each OS repackages it, often applying some customization along the way.
Therefore we cannot say universally that we support all platforms, but rather specify some we test against. In case
of ones not specified here the support is unknown, though likely will work. If you find some cases please open a feature
request on our issue tracker. Note, as of 20.16.0
we no longer support running under Python less than 3.6, however
we still support creating environments for 2.7 and 3.5.
Linux¶
installations from python.org
Ubuntu 16.04+ (both upstream and deadsnakes builds)
Fedora
RHEL and CentOS
OpenSuse
Arch Linux
macOS¶
In case of macOS we support:
installations from python.org
python versions installed via brew (both older python2.7 and python3)
Python 3 part of XCode (Python framework -
/Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/
)Python 2 part of the OS (
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/
)
Windows¶
Installations from python.org
Windows Store Python - note only version 3.7+
Packaging variants¶
Normal variant (file structure as comes from python.org).
We support CPython 2 system installations that do not contain the python files for the standard library if the respective compiled files are present (e.g. only
os.pyc
, notos.py
). This can be used by custom systems may want to maximize available storage or obfuscate source code by removing.py
files.