Virtualenv Quickstart

Your python and pip commands may be named python3 and pip3.

If you have virtualenv installed you can use virtualenv instead of python -m venv. According to developers, “virtualenv” is more efficient.

# create a virtual envronment for django-polls project
cmd>  cd /someplace/django-polls
cmd>  python -m venv env 

# Activate the virtual env using "activate" script
# some shells use "." instead of "source"
# Windows: enter 'env\Scripts\activate' (no "source")
cmd>  source env/bin/activate 

# install packages into this virtual environment (only once)
(env)cmd>  pip3 install -r requirements.txt

# run app inside this virtual environment
(env)cmd>  python3 manage.py runserver

# when finished, exit the virtual environment 
(env)cmd>  deactivate

This example created a directory named env for the project virtual environment files.
To delete the virtual envirionment, delete the env directory.

Don’t Commit the env Directory to Git!

Add the “env” directory (or whatever name you use) to .gitignore and update .gitignore in your git repo.
Don’t commit virtualenv directories to git.

Note: The env directory is unrelated to the .env file used by python-decouple.