2.8.3.1 Optional complementary materials: Installing Conda Build Package

Important note: While knowing how to create packages from your Python code to disseminate it is an important skill for a Python programmer, the procedure described in this section and section 2.8.3.2 is a bit complex and error-prone due to system and installation differences. It is also not required to have performed these steps successfully yourself to finish the lesson and the rest of the course. Therefore, this section is provided for interest only. We recommend that you just read through it or skip over it completely and you can then loop back to it at the end of the lesson if you have free time or after the end of the class. If you decide to go through the steps yourself and find yourself stuck with some errors, please feel free to ask about them on the course forums but don't let such issues keep you from reading through the rest of the section and finishing the lesson. 

Before we can create a conda package of our own we do need to install the conda-build package. We will use conda to install the conda Build package, just as you did with the PyQT5 package.

Use the Python Command Prompt and type in:

conda install conda-build

What we are doing is running conda with the install option, and asking it to install the conda-build package. A search and analysis will be performed by conda to find the package, determine its dependencies and you will be informed of all the packages that will be installed. Type in y to allow the install to proceed, and you will get progress messages for the installation of conda-build and all packages it is dependent on.

     

Figure 2.36 Progress for Installation

You could install other packages as well in a similar fashion (just as with pip), by changing the name conda-build to the appropriate package name. In order to know if a package you are looking for is available to be installed from conda, you can run conda with a search option, for example:

conda search pandas 

The output will show if the package is available, and if so from which channels. Channels are different repositories that have been set up by users and organizations.