this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024
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ELI5 Using python virtual environment in docker container. (programming.dev)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by alexdeathway@programming.dev to c/python@programming.dev
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I read some articles about using a virtual environment in Docker. Their argument are that the purpose of virtualization in Docker is to introduce isolation and limit conflicts with system packages etc.

However, aren't Docker and Python-based images (e.g., python:*) already doing the same thing?

Can someone eli5 this whole thing?

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[โ€“] fubarx@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I can think of only two reasons to have a venv inside a container:

  • If you're running third-party services inside a container, pinned to different Python versions.

  • If you do local development without docker and scripts that have to activate the venv from inside the script. If you move the scripts inside the container, now you don't have a venv. But then it's easy to just check an environment variable and skip, if inside Docker.

For most applications, it seems like an unnecessary extra step.

[โ€“] uthredii@programming.dev 2 points 2 months ago

If you do multi stage builds (example here) it is slightly easier to use venvs.

If you use the global environment you need to hardcode the path to global packages. This path can change when base images are upgraded.

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