How to install python3-venv on Ubuntu 16.04

Since Ubuntu 16.04 is a very popular operating system, it is one operating system that you will likely come across when you are building software with Python 3. For example, if you want to get a Nvidia Jetson TX2 developer kit today, you will find yourself dabbling with Ubuntu 16.04.

On the other hand, the venv module of Python 3 is one recommended way to create virtual environments for our Python 3 projects.

In case you need it, this post describes how to install python3-venv on Ubuntu 16.04.

Add universe repository and update Ubuntu 16.04

Open up a terminal window. After your terminal window had started, add Universe repository and upgrade your Ubuntu with the following commands:

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common -y
sudo apt-add-repository universe
sudo apt-get update

After the commands complete, you should be able to install python3-venv.

Installing python3-venv on Ubuntu 16.04

Next, run the following command to install python3-venv on Ubuntu 16.04:

sudo apt-get install python3-venv -y

Creating a virtual environment for your Python 3 application with python3-venv

Once python3-venv had been installed successfully, you should be able to create a virtual environment for your Python 3 application.

In order to test that out, run the following command to create a virtual environment for your Python 3 application inside ~/my_py3_venv:

python3 -m venv ~/my_py3_venv

After the command complete, you should be able to find the virtual environment inside the ~/my_py3_venv directory.

Getting into your Python 3 virtual environment with your terminal window

In order to get into your Python 3 virtual environment with your terminal window, you need to run the activate script. Given that, run the following command to get into your Python 3 virtual environment:

source ~/my_py3_venv/bin/activate

After the command complete, you will find that your terminal prompt is appended with (my_py3_venv). While inside this virtual environment, you can install any Python dependencies with the pip command. For example, if you wish to install Flask, you can run the following command:

pip install flask

When you had installed the necessary dependencies for your Python 3 application, you can then run your application with the python binary:

python run_your_app.py

Getting out of your Python 3 virtual environment

In order to get out of your Python 3 virtual environment, you need to run the following command:

deactivate

After the command completes, you will find that your terminal prompt is not appended with (my_py3_venv). At this point in time, whatever dependencies that you had added while inside the virtual environment will not be available.

About Clivant

Clivant a.k.a Chai Heng enjoys composing software and building systems to serve people. He owns techcoil.com and hopes that whatever he had written and built so far had benefited people. All views expressed belongs to him and are not representative of the company that he works/worked for.