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Welcome to Software Development on Codidact!

Will you help us build our independent community of developers helping developers? We're small and trying to grow. We welcome questions about all aspects of software development, from design to code to QA and more. Got questions? Got answers? Got code you'd like someone to review? Please join us.

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Q&A Why does `venv` seem to be missing or broken? Isn't it part of the standard library?

venv is indeed part of the standard library. However, some Linux distros modify Python to exclude some parts for various reasons, and venv might be among them. On Debian-based Linux distros you ...

posted 16d ago by Karl Knechtel‭

Answer
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Karl Knechtel‭ · 2024-06-18T10:34:28Z (16 days ago)
`venv` is indeed part of the standard library. However, some Linux distros modify Python to exclude some parts for various reasons, and `venv` might be among them.

<section class="notice is-success">

On Debian-based Linux distros you can generally install `venv` for the system Python with something like `apt install python3.x-venv` (replace `x` with the minor version number for your system Python). **This is generally safe and recommended for development**. Of course, this approach limits you to environments that use the same *version* of Python.
</section>

Alternatively, you could install (or just build) a separate copy of the same version (or whichever other version you need) of Python yourself, keeping it in a location that won't interfere with the system, and use its `venv` to create virtual environments. This is at least as risky/error-prone, and completely unnecessary for most users. Or you can use an environment management tool such as [`pyenv`](https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv), if that doesn't seem like overkill.