

However, it will intercept two very specific subcommands: It willĭelegate most of the commands to the real conda executable driven by the Python library. The conda shell function is mainly a forwarder function. Manipulation and snappier responses in some conda commands. The main idea behind initialization is to provide a conda shell function that allows the PythonĬode to interact with the shell context more intimately. Improves performance in certain operations Why is initialization needed at all to begin with? There are several reasons:Īctivation requires interacting with the shell context very closely That’s why initialization is there to begin with! Conda initialization It might find the conda executable if it happens to be in PATH, but this is most often not theĬase.

If your conda installation has been properly initialized, it will find the shell function. When you type conda in your terminal, your shell will try to find either:Īn executable file named conda in your PATH directories That if you are operating on the base environment, the target prefix will have the same value Usually defaults to theĪctivated environment, unless -n (name) or -p (prefix) is specified in the command line. The root environment was later renamed toīase, but the code still distinguishes between base and target using the old terminology:Ĭontext.root_prefix: the path where the base conda installation is located.Ĭontext.target_prefix: the environment conda is running a command on. Every otherĮnvironment lived under envs/ in that root environment. Originally, the base installation for conda was called the root environment.
