Is there a way to "version" my python distribution?

Question

I'm working by myself right now, but am looking at ways to scale my operation.

I'd like to find an easy way to version my Python distribution, so that I can recreate it very easily. Is there a tool to do this? Or can I add /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ (or whatever) to an svn repo? This doesn't solve the problems with PATHs, but I can always write a script to alter the path. Ideally, the solution would be to build my Python env in a VM, and then hand copies of the VM out.

How have other people solved this?

Answer 1

virtualenv + requirements.txt are your friend.

You can create several virtual python installs for your projects, everything containing exactly those library versions you need (Tip: pip freeze spits out a requirements.txt with the exact library versions).

Find a good reference to virtualenv here: http://simononsoftware.com/virtualenv-tutorial/ (it's from this question Comprehensive beginner's virtualenv tutorial?).

Alternatively, if you just want to distribute your code together with libraries, PyInstaller is worth a try. You can package everything together in a static executable - you don't even have to install the software afterwards.

Answer 2

You want to use virtualenv. It lets you create an application(s) specific directory for installed packages. You can also use pip to generate and build a requirements.txt