Overview
Effective package management is essential for Python development. This guide covers tools for managing dependencies, virtual environments, and package distribution.
Package Managers
UV
Modern, fast Python package installer. See UV Guide for details.
pip
Standard Python package installer. See pip Guide for details.
conda
Package and environment manager for data science. See conda Guide for details.
Virtual Environments
virtualenv
Tool for creating isolated Python environments. See virtualenv Guide for details.
venv
Built-in Python module for virtual environments.
# Create virtual environment
python -m venv myenv
# Activate (Linux/Mac)
source myenv/bin/activate
# Activate (Windows)
myenv\Scripts\activate
# Deactivate
deactivate
Dependency Management
requirements.txt
# Generate requirements file
pip freeze > requirements.txt
# Install from requirements
pip install -r requirements.txt
pyproject.toml
Modern Python project configuration:
[project]
name = "myproject"
version = "0.1.0"
dependencies = [
"requests>=2.28.0",
"pandas>=2.0.0"
]