relocatable python virtual environment

package inspired a lot by ian bicking's virtualenv but created in fashion that it can be relocated freely through the filesystem, renamed, backuped, ...

second nice main feature is, that you can customize your python environment via {{ENV}}/pythonrc.py in any curious way you want.

install

you can install this package from pypi:

pip install RVirtualEnv

# or

easy_install RVirtualEnv

# or just clone this repository
git clone http://github.com/kvbik/rvirtualenv

to create new virtual environment just call:

virtualenv ~/PYENV1

# or directly from this repo

./virtualenv.py ~/PYENV2

usage

to enable environment, do:

# on unix
export PYTHONPATH=~/PYENV1:$PYTHONPATH

# on windows
set PYTHONPATH=c:\PYENV1;%PYTHONPATH%

after that, you can call any python command (eg: pip or easy_install, ipython, ...) and it will have access to your virtual environment.

if you don't want to mess up with environment, just call our wrapper:

# on unix
~/PYENV1/bin/python [any [params]]

# on win
c:\PYENV1\Scripts\python.bat [any [params]]

it should work with mod-wsgi python-path option as well, and you can enable it in runtime via site.addsitedir(venv_directory).

tests

if you are interested in testing this package, it should support many standard ways of running tests. nose is used for test discovery.

you can run any of these commands:

• python setup.py test
• nosetests
• ./tests/test_all.py

in the setup.py case you just have to wait a little, until setuptools_dummy are downloaded, because it is a build dependency.

package was tested on:

• archlinux with python 2.6
• ms windows with python 2.6
• debian lenny with python 2.5
• debian etch with python 2.4

but there is no build environment yet.

why

main reasons why this package came into existence:

• it does not copy python binary
• it does not symlink core python libraries
• you can just set up PYTHONPATH env variable and you can use any system-wide command (eg: easy_install, pip)
• you can tune pythonrc.py file to your needs in any curious ways (useful for debugging/testing)

todo

it does not have all the features, that ian's virtualenv has, because i don't know, which one of them are important..

probably no-site-packages is important and it can be simulated by patching your pythonrc.py file right now.

boot scripts even ian does not like very much and i think there should be some init scripts only or installation of some package should be called.