Issue
I am using Git Bash on windows with python 2.7 and I want to work in a virtual environment.
When I type
virtualenv venv
Bash says
bash: virtualenv: command not found
That makes me think virtualenv is not installed, then I try to install virtualenv
pip install virtualenv
But again Bash says
bash: pip: command not found
Then by reading this thread python 2.7: cannot pip on windows "bash: pip: command not found" I find out that it cannot find the pip directory, that maybe is the same reason for which it cannot find virtualenv directory. So I specify the path of pip and I try again to instal virtualenv
python -m pip install virtualenv
It installs virtualenv but then tells
DEPRECATION: Python 2.7 will reach the end of its life on January 1st, 2020. Please upgrade your Python as Python 2.7 won't be maintained after that date. A future version of pip will drop support for Python 2.7.
So I go forward and try to activate my virtualenv by typing
virtualenv venv
and as I expected I get the same error of before
bash: virtualenv: command not found
that I try to solve in the same way I did for pip, by typing
python -m virtualenv venv
and this time bash responds with
$ python -m virtualenv venv New python executable in C:\Users\Tommaso\DJANGO~1\UDEMYD~1\METAGL~2\venv\Scripts\python.exe Installing setuptools, pip, wheel... done.
So I guess it created my virtualenv named venv, but in my bash terminal I still get the writing "(master)" at the end of the input line, that I guess it means the virtual environment is not active. How do I activate it?
Solution
Solved!
Here is what I did.
First, by following this SO answer, I found out how to make Git Bash use python 3.7 instead of python 2.7 by default:
I opened the file aliases.sh with Notepad++, located at
C:<path where you installed Git Bash>\etc\profile.d\aliases.sh
Under the paragraph
--show-control-chars: help showing Korean or accented characters
I added these lines indicating where the two versions of python I want to switch are located
alias python2='C:/<installation_path_of_python_2.7>/Python 2.7/python.exe'
alias python='C:/<installation_path_of_python_3.7>/Python 3.7/python.exe'
alias pip='C:/<installation_path_of_python_3.7>/Phyton/Scripts/pip.exe'
alias virtualenv='C:/<installation_path_of_python_3.7>/Phyton/Scripts/virtualenv.exe'
You don't really need the last 2 ones, but it will help you a lot, since it enables Git Bash to call pip, virtualenv and other scripts without writing python -m before the name of the script.
You can check out if you did right by typing
python -i
It should return you the latest python version you specified.
Then if I type
python -m virtualenv venv
It installs the virtual environment in the current directory
To activate that, just type
. venv/scripts/activate
If it works, you should see
(venv)
near to your active input line.
To deactivate it just type
deactivate
Answered By - Tms91 Answer Checked By - Candace Johnson (WPSolving Volunteer)