VIRTUALENV(1)

NAME
virtualenv - Python virtual environment creator

SYNOPSIS
virtualenv [--version] [--with-traceback] [-v | -q] [--app-data APP_DATA] [--clear-app-data] [--discovery {builtin}] [-p py] [--creator {builtin,cpython3-posix,venv}] [--seeder {app-data,pip}] [--no-seed] [--activators comma_sep_list] [--clear] [--system-site-packages] [--symlinks | --copies] [--no-download | --download] [--extra-search-dir d [d ...]] [--pip version] [--setuptools version] [--wheel version] [--no-pip] [--no-setuptools] [--no-wheel] [--symlink-app-data] [--prompt prompt] [-h] dest

DESCRIPTION

The virtualenv utility creates virtual Python instances, each invokable with its own Python executable. Each instance can have different sets of modules, installable via easy_install. Virtual Python instances can also be created without root access.

  optional arguments:

--version
    display the version of the virtualenv package and it's location, then exit

--with-traceback
    on failure also display the stacktrace internals of virtualenv (default: False)

--app-data APP_DATA
    a data folder used as cache by the virtualenv (default: <temp folder>)

--clear-app-data
    start with empty app data folder (default: False)

-h, --help
    show this help message and exit

  verbosity:

    verbosity = verbose - quiet, default INFO, mapping => CRITICAL=0, ERROR=1, WARNING=2, INFO=3, DEBUG=4, NOTSET=5

-v, --verbose
    increase verbosity (default: 2)

-q, --quiet
    decrease verbosity (default: 0)

  discovery:

    discover and provide a target interpreter

--discovery {builtin}
    interpreter discovery method (default: builtin)

-p py, --python py
    target interpreter for which to create a virtual (either absolute path or identifier string) (default: /usr/bin/python3)

  creator:

    options for creator builtin

--creator {builtin,cpython3-posix,venv}
    create environment via (builtin = cpython3-posix) (default: builtin)

dest
    directory to create virtualenv at

--clear
    remove the destination directory if exist before starting (will overwrite files otherwise) (default: False)

--system-site-packages
    give the virtual environment access to the system site-packages dir (default: False)

--symlinks
    try to use symlinks rather than copies, when symlinks are not the default for the platform (default: True)

--copies, --always-copy
    try to use copies rather than symlinks, even when symlinks are the default for the platform (default: False)

  seeder:

    options for seeder app-data

--seeder {app-data,pip}
    seed packages install method (default: app-data)

--no-seed, --without-pip
    do not install seed packages (default: False)

--download
    pass to enable download of the latest pip, setuptools, and wheel from PyPI (default: False)

--no-download, --never-download
    pass to disable download of the latest pip, setuptools, and wheel from PyPI (default: True)

--extra-search-dir d [d ...]
    a path containing wheels the seeder may also use beside bundled (can be set 1+ times) (default: [])

--pip version
    pip version to install, bundle for bundled (default: latest)

--setuptools version
    setuptools version to install, bundle for bundled (default: latest)

--wheel version
    wheel version to install, bundle for bundled (default: latest)

--no-pip
    do not install pip (default: False)

--no-setuptools
    do not install setuptools (default: False)

--no-wheel
    do not install wheel (default: False)

--symlink-app-data
    symlink the python packages from the app-data folder (requires seed pip>=19.3) (default: False)

  activators:

    options for activation scripts

--activators comma_sep_list
    activators to generate - default is all supported (default: bash,cshell,fish,powershell,python,xonsh)

--prompt prompt
    provides an alternative prompt prefix for this environment (default: None)

config file $HOME/.config/virtualenv/virtualenv.ini (change via env var VIRTUALENV_CONFIG_FILE)

NOTES

python2 virtualenvs
    To run pip with python2 requires ipaddr, which is no longer available in the Debian archive (which is why it is not included in the package). Additional steps are required:

    [sudo] apt install python3-pip python3-virtualenv
    pip3 install ipaddr
    [sudo] cp $WHEEL_LOCATION/ipaddr-2.2.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl /usr/share/python-wheels/
    [sudo] apt install python2.7

    When ipaddr is installed via pip3, pip3 will list the installation location.  Copy the ipaddr wheel into /usr/share/python-wheels and then create your virtualenv.

    The example uses the python2.7 package from the Debian archive. Eventually that will be removed and users will have to build their own interpreter.

AUTHORS

This man-page was created using help2man and then updated by Scott Kitterman <scott@kitterman.com> and is licensed under the same terms as virtualenv.