[Tutor] Using venv

[Ben Finney]

Jim <jf_byrnes at comcast.net> writes:

> It has been suggested to me that I should use a virtual environment
> and venv would be a good choice. I've read through PEP405 and this
> link [1].

One possible confusion is the terminology.

You have “a virtual environment” when you create one. The ‘venv’ module
is not itself a virtual environment; it is what you use to create one :-)

> Though some of it seems a little confusing to me, I'm sure I can get
> it up and running. This question seems a little dumb and maybe I am
> being a little dense, but then what?

* In each shell where you want to be working in that virtual Python
  environment, activate the virtualenv (by running the commands from its
  corresponding ‘activate’ script; e.g. ‘source $VENV/bin/activate’).

* Do things requiring Python.

> Your program/script is done how do you run it? Do you always have to
> activate your venv and run it from there?

To get the benefits of that particular virtualenv, yes.

> I like to run Tkinter programs from a launcher. Would that be possible
> and what would the command look like?

How are the programs installed? Can you customise how they're launched?

> Lately I have been writing some Libreoffice calc macros and evaluating
> pyspread for it's macro capability. Would modules installed in my venv
> be available to the spreadsheet programs?

The trick is that the environment variables for a process need to be set
either when the program starts, or within the program; it can't be done
externally. That isn't special to Python, it is how processes work.

The virtualenv is activated by setting particular shell environment
variables to specific values. If you can do that, the answer is yes.

The ‘source $VENV/bin/activate’ command just runs shell commands to set
those environment variables. It's not the only way to set those
environment variables.

Other Python-bundled programs, like LibreOffice or Blender, will likely
have their own ways of activating a virtualenv; or at least you'll
probably find people in those communities discussing how to do it.

-- 
 \       “I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them |
  `\    to do to their fellows, because it always coincides with their |
_o__)                      own desires.” —Susan Brownell Anthony, 1896 |
Ben Finney