Installing ipykernel using conda fails

[DonJayamanne]

Issue originally reported by @IanMatthewHuff https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-python/issues/9166#issuecomment-574427106

I'm not seeing this as validated either. With conda init run this is what I get in my terminal when I choose to install ipykernel. @DonJayamanne should I move back to backlog? Hard to know if this is expected with all the recent conda issues.

Loading personal and system profiles took 1244ms.
(base) PS C:\github\Samples\DSPlayground> conda activate newEnv
(newEnv) PS C:\github\Samples\DSPlayground> & C:/Anaconda3/envs/newEnv/python.exe c:/github/vscode-python-ianhu/pythonFiles/shell_exec.py C:/Anaconda3/Scripts/conda.exe install --name newEnv ipykernel -y C:/Users/ianhu/AppData/Local/Temp/tmp-30144xr1m596pS9pf.log
Executing command in shell >> C:/Anaconda3/Scripts/conda.exe install --name newEnv ipykernel -y

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ERROR REPORT <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\exceptions.py", line 1078, in __call__
    return func(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\cli\main.py", line 84, in _main
    exit_code = do_call(args, p)
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\cli\conda_argparse.py", line 82, in do_call
    exit_code = getattr(module, func_name)(args, parser)
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\cli\main_install.py", line 20, in execute
    install(args, parser, 'install')
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\cli\install.py", line 116, in install
    if context.use_only_tar_bz2:
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda\base\context.py", line 668, in use_only_tar_bz2
    import conda_package_handling.api
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\conda_package_handling\api.py", line 3, in <module>
    from libarchive.exception import ArchiveError as _LibarchiveArchiveError
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\libarchive\__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
    from .entry import ArchiveEntry
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\libarchive\entry.py", line 6, in <module>
    from . import ffi
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\libarchive\ffi.py", line 27, in <module>
    libarchive = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(libarchive_path)
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\ctypes\__init__.py", line 434, in LoadLibrary
    return self._dlltype(name)
  File "C:\Anaconda3\lib\ctypes\__init__.py", line 356, in __init__
    self._handle = _dlopen(self._name, mode)
TypeError: LoadLibrary() argument 1 must be str, not None

$ C:\Anaconda3\Scripts\conda-script.py install --name newEnv ipykernel -y

environment variables:
CIO_TEST=
CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV=newEnv
CONDA_EXE=C:\Anaconda3\Scripts\conda.exe
CONDA_PREFIX=C:\Anaconda3\envs\newEnv
CONDA_PREFIX_1=C:\Anaconda3
CONDA_PROMPT_MODIFIER=(newEnv)
CONDA_PYTHON_EXE=C:\Anaconda3\python.exe
CONDA_ROOT=C:\Anaconda3
CONDA_SHLVL=2
HOMEPATH=\Users\ianhu
PATH=C:\Anaconda3\envs\newEnv;C:\Anaconda3\envs\newEnv\Library\mingw-w64\bi
n;C:\Anaconda3\envs\newEnv\Library\usr\bin;C:\Anaconda3\envs\newEnv\Li
brary\bin;C:\Anaconda3\envs\newEnv\Scripts;C:\Anaconda3\envs\newEnv\bi
n;C:\Anaconda3\condabin;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\Syst
em32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files
(x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C
:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:
WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Program
Files\nodejs;C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA NvDLISR;C:\WIN
DOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32
WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files
(x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Windows Performance Toolkit;C:\Users\ianhu\AppD
ata\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;.;C:\Users\ianhu\AppData\Local\Program
s\Microsoft VS Code\bin;C:\Users\ianhu\AppData\Roaming\npm;C:\Users\ia
nhu\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code Insiders\bin
PSMODULEPATH=C:\Users\ianhu\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules;C:\Program Files\Wi
ndowsPowerShell\Modules;C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Mod
ules
REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE=
SSL_CERT_FILE=

 active environment : newEnv
active env location : C:\Anaconda3\envs\newEnv
        shell level : 2
   user config file : C:\Users\ianhu\.condarc

populated config files : C:\Users\ianhu.condarc
conda version : 4.8.0
conda-build version : 3.17.6
python version : 3.7.1.final.0
virtual packages : __cuda=10.2
base environment : C:\Anaconda3 (writable)
channel URLs : https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/win-64
https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/noarch
https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/win-64
https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/noarch
https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/win-64
https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/noarch
https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/win-64
https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/noarch
package cache : C:\Anaconda3\pkgs
C:\Users\ianhu.conda\pkgs
C:\Users\ianhu\AppData\Local\conda\conda\pkgs
envs directories : C:\Anaconda3\envs
C:\Users\ianhu.conda\envs
C:\Users\ianhu\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs
platform : win-64
user-agent : conda/4.8.0 requests/2.21.0 CPython/3.7.1 Windows/10 Windows/10.0.18362
administrator : False
netrc file : None
offline mode : False

An unexpected error has occurred. Conda has prepared the above report.

Upload successful.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "c:/github/vscode-python-ianhu/pythonFiles/shell_exec.py", line 26, in
subprocess.check_call(shell_args, stdout=sys.stdout, stderr=sys.stderr)
File "C:\Anaconda3\envs\newEnv\lib\subprocess.py", line 363, in check_call
raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['C:/Anaconda3/Scripts/conda.exe', 'install', '--name', 'newEnv', 'ipykernel', '-y']' returned non-zero exit status 1.

(newEnv) PS C:\github\Samples\DSPlayground>

[DonJayamanne]

@IanMatthewHuff If i remember correctly conda updated to 4.8.1 due to some bug in 4.8.0.
Please could you update conda to the latest version.

[IanMatthewHuff]

So (still on 4.8) I see the following in the terminal:
conda install --name newEnv ipykernel -y Works
But
C:/Anaconda3/Scripts/conda.exe install --name newEnv ipykernel -y Fails

Which looks like the actual shell command that we are running.

[IanMatthewHuff]

Will update to 4.8.1 to try there.

[IanMatthewHuff]

Hmm, every thing from here seems to keep me pinned at 4.8.0.
https://docs.anaconda.com/anaconda/install/update-version/

Will poke around more.

[IanMatthewHuff]

4.8.1 looks to work. Though I would say that I had to pull a new miniconda so it's not totally the same repro.

Loading personal and system profiles took 785ms.
(base) PS C:\Users\ianhu\Desktop\plots> conda activate cleanConda
(cleanConda) PS C:\Users\ianhu\Desktop\plots> & C:/Miniconda3/envs/cleanConda/python.exe c:/github/vscode-python-ianhu/pythonFiles/shell_exec.py C:/Miniconda3/Scripts/conda.exe install --name cleanConda ipykernel -y C:/Users/ianhu/AppData/Local/Temp/tmp-32608nslqbUgU4pGE.log
Executing command in shell >> C:/Miniconda3/Scripts/conda.exe install --name cleanConda ipykernel -y
Collecting package metadata (current_repodata.json): done
Solving environment: done

Package Plan

environment location: C:\Miniconda3\envs\cleanConda

added / updated specs:
- ipykernel

[DonJayamanne]

@IanMatthewHuff Thanks. Shall we close this as validated.
The problem was conda version 4.8.0 was busted, it broke a couple of other stuff as well.

[IanMatthewHuff]

@DonJayamanne Closing