[conda] Difference between python and other conda packages

[Marco Halder]

Hello,
First, thank you for your great work with conda.

I'm trying to understand how conda handles python itself compared to other packages.
When a new environment is created, python is installed into it. Is this python version pinned? If yes, is it possible to unpin it? What is the recommended way to check if a package is pinned? Are there other major differences between python and other packages?

Best regards,
Marco

['Chris Barker' via conda - Public]

Post by Marco Halder
I'm trying to understand how conda handles python itself compared to other packages.
When a new environment is created, python is installed into it. Is this
python version pinned?

not sure what you mean by "pinned", but it is managed jsut like the other
packages -- you can upgrade it, etc.

a LOT of other packages depend on it, so it could get messy, but unless you
try to upgrade from py2 to py3 (that may not work) it should be do-able.

Post by Marco Halder
If yes, is it possible to unpin it? What is the recommended way to check
if a package is pinned?

I don't know that conda every fixes a package version in an environment so
it can't be upgraded. My understanding of the word "pinned" is that it
applies to dependencies, where you specify that only a particular version
of a given dep can be used.

Are there other major differences between python and other packages?
the python is the base environment is used to run conda itself, so there
may be some special issues there. But in an non-base environment, I'm
pretty sure Python is just another package...

In fact, while it is common, due to conda's roots and common use cases, to
start an environment out with Python -- it isn't necessary. For instance:

$ conda create -n node_test nodejs


will create an environment with only node in it -- no python at all.

-CHB

Post by Marco Halder
Best regards,
Marco
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