Python Environment Setup with PyENV — Tutorials | Lhoucine Cherif

pythonpyenvvirtualenvubuntulinux

PyENV lets you install and switch between multiple Python versions without touching your system Python.

Install Dependencies (Ubuntu 22.04)

bash

      sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y make build-essential libssl-dev zlib1g-dev \
  libbz2-dev libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev wget curl llvm \
  libncursesw5-dev xz-utils tk-dev libxml2-dev libxmlsec1-dev \
  libffi-dev liblzma-dev

Install PyENV

bash

      curl https://pyenv.run | bash

Add to your shell config (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

bash

      export PYENV_ROOT="$HOME/.pyenv"
command -v pyenv >/dev/null || export PATH="$PYENV_ROOT/bin:$PATH"
eval "$(pyenv init -)"
eval "$(pyenv virtualenv-init -)"

Restart your shell:

bash

      exec "$SHELL"

Common Commands

bash

      # List available Python versions
pyenv install --list

# Install a specific version
pyenv install 3.11.7

# Set global default
pyenv global 3.11.7

# Set local version (per-directory)
pyenv local 3.10.13

# List installed versions
pyenv versions

Using PyENV with Virtual Environments

bash

      # Create a virtualenv
pyenv virtualenv 3.11.7 my-project-env

# Activate it
pyenv activate my-project-env

# Set it as the local environment for a directory
cd /path/to/project
pyenv local my-project-env

# Deactivate
pyenv deactivate

# Delete a virtualenv
pyenv virtualenv-delete my-project-env

With pyenv local, the environment activates automatically when you cd into the project directory.