Conda

CMI Python Meeting

27/3/15

Anaconda is a distribution of Python developed and maintained by Continuum Analytics.
It bundles over 195 scientific python libraries as binaries that are very difficult to build, such as MayaVi
It also provides the conda environment and package manager.

Whilst installing large numbers of packages may be useful, some may only want the bare bones.
Miniconda is Anaconda, without the packages.

Conda is both a package (like pip) and environment (like virtual envs) manager
However, it is designed to manage the versions of C and C++ extensions, to prevent incorrect library linking.

Create a conda environment:

conda create -n {env_name} python={2/3} {packages}

For example:

conda create -n py3k python=2 rdkit

source activate py3k

source deactivate

Switch to an environment:

Exit an environment:

conda env list

List environments:

Install a new package:

conda install {package}

Uninstall a package:

conda remove {package}

Update a package:

conda update {package}

List installed packages

conda list

pip install requests
conda list

List installed packages

conda list

conda create -n py3k python=3 boost=1.56 rdkit
conda create -n py2k python=2 boost=1.56 rdkit

RDKit now works with both Python 2 and Python 3!

This is incredibly difficult without conda.