I’m trying to create a virtual environment using Python 3.5 (installed in my user directory) for a project, while still keeping my Python 2.7 setup intact. However, when I try to create the virtual environment, I get a sys.prefix error saying the executable isn’t functioning as expected. What’s the correct way to create a virtual environment in Python 3, and how do I avoid these compatibility issues with virtualenv?
I’ve been switching between Python 2.7 and 3.x for years, and yeah, the cleanest way I found to create virtual environment Python is just to stick with Python 3’s built-in venv module if you’re using 3.3 or newer. It avoids a lot of sys.prefix issues that used to pop up with older virtualenv.
Try this, it’s simple and clean:
python3.5 -m venv myenv
This approach saved me hours of frustration when setting up isolated environments.
Yep, I’ve had a similar journey, been managing multiple Python installs on different systems for a while. Just to add, if you’re using non-standard installs or older setups, I’ve had luck installing virtualenv in user space. It helped me create virtual environment Python without hitting those annoying permission or path errors.
Here’s what I did:
pip install --user virtualenv
virtualenv -p /path/to/python3.5 myenv
That said, I still lean toward venv for anything Python 3.5+—it’s just more predictable overall.
I’ve been handling Python environments across different Linux distros for some time, and one sneaky thing I’ve seen cause issues is the $PATH variable. Even if you do everything right, if an older Python version is first in your path, it can totally derail your attempt to create virtual environment Python cleanly.
So now, I always double-check the path and explicitly call the right Python binary. Then I activate like this:
source myenv/bin/activate
Once you get that right, it’s usually smooth sailing, even on legacy systems.