For recreating your Conda environment on another computer, using an environment.yml file is the most reliable and portable approach. This ensures all dependencies, versions, and channels are included, making it straightforward to replicate the environment.
Here’s why and how:
- Platform Independence: The file doesn’t include platform-specific details unless explicitly added (e.g.,
prefix), so it works across operating systems.
- Channel Management: Conda channels (
defaults, conda-forge, etc.) are included in the file, ensuring the correct package sources.
- Optional Pip Dependencies: It supports pip-installed packages if you have non-Conda dependencies.
- Ease of Use: Recreating the environment is a single command.
On the original computer, export the environment to an environment.yml file:
conda env export --no-builds > environment.yml
The --no-builds flag omits specific build numbers, making the file more portable.
Copy the environment.yml file to the new computer (via email, USB, or version control).
On the new computer, use the following command to recreate the environment:
conda env create -f environment.yml
This command will:
- Create a new Conda environment with the same name and dependencies as listed in the
environment.yml file.
- Install all required packages from the specified channels.
Once the environment is created, activate it:
conda activate <environment_name>
If you need to replicate the environment exactly (including platform-specific details):
- Generate a requirements file:
conda list --explicit > requirements.txt
- On the new computer, recreate the environment:
conda create --name <environment_name> --file requirements.txt
This approach ensures an exact match but is less portable between different operating systems.
For portability and ease of use, stick with the environment.yml approach. It’s flexible and widely supported for sharing and recreating Conda environments.