An Opinionated Python Setup Guide for Mac

I do not like to use homebrew for python, but I install it for Homebrew dependencies.

I use the native installer available on python.org. It works perfectly on my mac, and gives me no issues. I create local virtualenvs for each project, from the base distribution of choice.

I have found zero reasons NOT to use the standard distribution, and it allows me to install any version of sub-version I desire.

I'm really happy with pyenv [0], as long as it's installed with the automatic installer [1] rather than homebrew.

[0] https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv

[1] https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv#automatic-installer

I can't recommend using Anaconda/Conda it's so bloated.

A poetry/.toml/requirements.txt file and venv is enough to manage without having 100's of data science libs installed.

> Feel free to use conda but keep it scoped to individual projects rather than as a system-wide configuration.

Good advice!

Extension: Use pipx for pip python applications like ansible.