How to change python version in r-reticulate environment?

Question

I would like to upgrade my python version in my r-reticulate environment. First I activate the right environment like this:

conda activate /Users/quinten/Library/r-miniconda/envs/r-reticulate

Let's check the python version:

python3 --version
Python 3.7.11

So I installed the newest python version for macOS which is 3.11.1. After that, I tried to change the Python version like described here (How to change Python version of existing conda virtual environment?) using this:

conda install python=3.11

This was successfully installed, but when I check again the version python3 --version it still returns 3.7.11. So I was wondering if anyone knows how to change the python version in an r-reticulate environment? I would like to use this in ‘Quarto’.

Answer 1

One shouldn't need a system-level Python - it really only complicates working with Conda environments. Rather than changing an environment's Python, it is more straightforward to create the environment with the desired specifications at the outset. For example, something like

library(reticulate)

conda_create("myenv", python_version="3.11")