I constructed a virtual env, then moved its directory. (This is on a Mac, but the eventual target is a Linux host.) That failed, because VIRTUAL_ENV is hardcoded in the activate script: export VIRTUAL_ENV=/Users/skip/py314 Is there some reason it can’t be defined in terms of the location of the ac…

Personally I never use the activate scripts. It’s easier to run the python inside the venv’s bin folder. Would that work for you? I have a venv on my mac that I use to run personal tools with and have a helper script like this: % more ~/bin/tool-python3 #!/bin/bash # run inside of the tools venv…

[image] Making venvs relocatable friendly Ideas Hi all, In short: Have resolution of paths in pyvenv.cfg be relative to the pyvenv.cfg file. Why? This allows a venv to be relocatable enough that the basic Python bootstrapping process gets far enough to hand o…

Thanks for the reply. I suppose if all I ever ran was the Python interpreter that would be a solution. I have 50 or so available shell-level commands in mine though, from the interpreter to gunicorn, coverage and pytest. Edit: One other thing. I have multiple virtual environments for different vers…

In that case you can add the venv bin dir to your PATH and then you can run any command that is installed in the venv directly.

Since you’re targeting a Linux host anyway, moving the venv from macOS wouldn’t work even with a relocatable activate script: the interpreter symlinks, the home = path in pyvenv.cfg, any compiled wheels and the console-script shebangs are all tied to the machine and path where it was created. The u…

I get that. I mean moving in within the same computer.

For all my venv’s I have a script that creates them so I don;t have to recall details. Why not create a script then you can avoid needing to move a venv?

Virtual env PATH question

Python Help

petersuter (Peter Suter) October 25, 2026, 8:07am 3