Will installing the conda-smithy package into an env cause issues?

[MattTriano]

Context: Reading through the documentation on updating packages, there's a line saying conda-smithy should be installed in the "root environment". I wasn't sure if "root environment" meant the base env, so I searched and found this line in the User section intro that states we recommend always installing your packages inside a new environment instead of the base (formerly known as root) environment,. I've been a conda user since 2017/2018 and over the years I've independently learned to exclusively install packages into non-base conda envs and I'm wary about installing anything into the base env.

My questions: Is it still correct to install conda-smithy into the "root" (base) env? If so, why is that the case? If not, what should the docs say in the first section I linked?

Thanks!

[apjanke]

Bump on this; I'm curious to know what the official answer is too, based on the same concerns that OP Matt has.

When I do conda install conda-smithy in the base env in a current Miniforge installation (on macOS 14), it wants to install a hundred new packages, which seems like a lot to add to the base env.

$ conda install conda-smithy
Retrieving notices: ...working... done
Channels:
 - conda-forge
Platform: osx-64
[...]

(I'm a new conda-smithy user; just trying to figure it out to resolve the linting check failure problems with fredapi version bumps for conda-forge/fredapi-feedstock#7.)

[mfansler]

It should only be installed inbase because it has a dependency on conda itself and that should never be installed elsewhere than base.

[apjanke]

That makes sense. Thanks!