any way to tell if user's python environment is anaconda

Question

i'm distributing an in-house python lib where i'd like to make it such that if the user is using anaconda when running this file, that updates to the dependencies of the library will be made automatically. (this is by request. if it were up to me, i would let the users control their own packages.)

so far, i've come up with something like

def _user_has_conda():
    cmd = 'conda --help'
    p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
    out, err = p.communicate()
    if len(out) > 0 and len(err) == 0:
        return True
    else:
        return False

but this really only tells me if the user has anaconda installed on their system, and not whether the current python process is running in the anaconda environment.

what i notice is that when i start a python or ipython shell, i see "Python 3.3.3 |Continuum Analytics, Inc|" at the top. my next idea would be to try to find how to get this string to see if "Continuum Analytics" is there, and if so, assume that the user is running in anaconda.

i'm sure there are better ideas out there, and that's why i'm here.

thank you.

In your example you should *not* use `shell=True` but use a `cmd` of the form `['conda', '--help']`. Regarding your question: couldn't you check `sys.executable` and see whether the interpreter is in an anaconda installation directory? — Bakuriu, Jan 22 '14 at 12:13
It must start a new shell which then executes your command, which means you are adding some overhead. In the general case (although not the one you have shown) it can adds security risks such as arbitrary code execution. Use it *only* if you actually need some *shell* feature (e.g. you want to execute more commands in a pipe, or you want to use some shell built-in etc.) — Bakuriu, Jan 22 '14 at 16:51

score 17 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 10 '21 at 19:35

17

For version <= 3.6:

In [109]: import sys

In [110]: 'conda' in sys.version
Out[110]: True

For version >= 3.7, the version info has changed like:

In [2]: sys.version
Out[2]: '3.7.1 (default, Dec 10 2018, 22:54:23) [MSC v.1915 64 bit (AMD64)]'

From this post The solution should be changed to:

import sys, os
is_conda = os.path.exists(os.path.join(sys.prefix, 'conda-meta'))

edited Oct 10 '21 at 19:35

wjandrea

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answered Jan 22 '14 at 12:20

zhangxaochen

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score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 23 '14 at 20:45

16

I'm from Continuum, so let me make a quick note: You'll get a different sys.version string depending on whether you used conda to install the Anaconda Python Distribution or simply Python. So from conda create -n full_apd anaconda you'd get a sys.version string as follows:

$ python -c "import sys; print sys.version"
2.7.6 |Anaconda 1.8.0 (x86_64)| (default, Jan 10 2014, 11:23:15) 
[GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5493)]

This is what you get if you use miniconda or are working from a conda environment where you have just specified python (e.g. conda create -n base_py27 python=2.7):

$ python -c "import sys; print sys.version"
2.7.6 |Continuum Analytics, Inc.| (default, Jan 10 2014, 11:23:15) 
[GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5493)]

If you have simply downloaded and installed the full Anaconda Python Distribution directly, you'll get the former:

$ python -c "import sys; print sys.version"
2.7.6 |Anaconda 1.8.0 (x86_64)| (default, Jan 10 2014, 11:23:15) 
[GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5493)]

answered Jan 23 '14 at 20:45

IanSR

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thanks ian. i've put in code to catch either "anaconda" or "continuum" in the sys.version string. hopefully that should do the trick for at least as long as i'm maintaining this library :) – badideas Jan 23 '14 at 23:44
If we are using a conda environment, how can we tell which version of conda is being used from within the python interpreter? For example in the first case you mentioned I could parse for "Anaconda M.N.V" and check M, N, an V. I would like to do something like this for the case when I'm using a conda environment. – user3731622 Jan 09 '17 at 17:55
in python 3 try: $ python -c "import sys; print(sys.version)" – Adam Lee Perelman Nov 08 '18 at 08:37
1

My conda installation now gives a sys.version of `3.7.2 (default, Jan 2 2019, 17:07:39) [MSC v.1915 64 bit (AMD64)]` so I don't think this works anymore.This might address it: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47610844/1639671 – flutefreak7 Feb 05 '19 at 21:33
1

**Inherently fragile.** This is guaranteed to fail in common edge cases (e.g., Python >= 3.7.1). See [zhangxaochen](https://stackoverflow.com/users/1150712/zhangxaochen)'s [updated answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/21282816/2809027) for a robust alternative avoiding non-portable pattern matching entirely. – Cecil Curry May 23 '19 at 00:48

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 22 '14 at 12:15

5

Documentation: http://docs.python.org/2/library/sys.html#sys.version

In [1]: import sys; sys.version
Out[1]: '2.7.5 |Anaconda 1.8.0 (64-bit)| (default, Jul  1 2013, 12:37:52) [MSC v.1500 64 bit (AMD64)]'

answered Jan 22 '14 at 12:15

iljau

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any way to tell if user's python environment is anaconda

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