From 57ce7b0c251d34e29a2eb5375c70e751c9b83f4e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Michael Merickel Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2017 00:02:15 -0500 Subject: explain why we prefer to avoid activate fixes #3064 --- docs/narr/install.rst | 4 +--- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 3 deletions(-) (limited to 'docs') diff --git a/docs/narr/install.rst b/docs/narr/install.rst index 2a25ad84d..c2bd00bff 100644 --- a/docs/narr/install.rst +++ b/docs/narr/install.rst @@ -206,9 +206,7 @@ After installing Python as described previously in :ref:`for-mac-os-x-users` or ``$VENV/bin/pip`` clearly specifies that ``pip`` is run from within the virtual environment and not at the system level. - ``activate`` drops turds into the user's shell environment, leaving them - vulnerable to executing commands in the wrong context. ``deactivate`` might - not correctly restore previous shell environment variables. + ``activate`` makes changes to the user's shell environment which can often be convenient. However, in the context of long-form documentation, environment configuration can easily be forgotten. By keeping each snippet explicit we can reduce copy / paste errors by users in which commands are executed against the wrong Python environment. Also, ``deactivate`` might not correctly restore previous shell environment variables. Avoiding ``activate`` keeps the environment more reproducible. Although using ``source bin/activate``, then ``pip``, requires fewer key strokes to issue commands once invoked, there are other things to consider. -- cgit v1.2.3