Pipenv

What I Used To Do

After selecting my prefered Python version with pyenv I would install pip install virtualenv and then proceed with more steps to create the virutalenv, run the virtualenv, and install packages. This pattern was ok, but quite tedious as I summarize all of the commands below. Eventually, I would have to freeze the packages and build a lock file to select the versions of the packages which were compatible for the project I was working on.

1. pyenv local 5.8.6
2. pip install virtualenv
3. virtualenv .env
4. source .env/bin/activate
5. pip install -r requirements.txt

While this seems very straight forward, many things got better when moving to pipenv.

What I Do Now

Now, I select my Python version with pipenv and then run pipenv shell. This is vastly much easier and allowes for better automation by using:

pipenv run cmd-to-run

If I want to add a package to the Pipenv file, I just install it with:

pipenv install pkg-name

Installation

I have this already placed in Libsh but I will also share the install instructions by the creator:

https://pypi.org/project/pipenv/

Commands I Use

pipenv shell

This does all the work of creating the virtualenv into a temporary directory and launching a sub-shell of the project

pipenv sync

Installes all of the packages from the Pipfile.lock

pipenv run

Executes a command within the pipenv environment saving steps of sourcing other functions before executing.

pipenv --python #.#

Creates a new project with the #.# version of Python!

Conclusions

I really have come to enjoy pipenv very much and its now my default tool for almost every Python project I work on. I really like raw focused tools that help out multiple projects by solving specific issues. This is one of thoes tools.