conda-build install causes havoc with non-base environment installs!

[dwr-psandhu]

Actual Behavior

Installing conda-build from a "non-base" environment causes havoc with active environments

conda create -n py37 python=3.7
conda activate py37
conda install -n py37 -c conda-forge conda-build

Here is conda info right after the install

(py37) C:\Users\TestConda>conda info

     active environment : base
    active env location : C:\Users\TestConda\Miniconda3\envs\py37
            shell level : 2
       user config file : C:\Users\TestConda\.condarc
 populated config files : C:\Users\TestConda\Miniconda3\envs\py37\.condarc
          conda version : 4.7.12
    conda-build version : 3.18.11
         python version : 3.7.5.final.0
       virtual packages :
       base environment : C:\Users\TestConda\Miniconda3\envs\py37  (writable)
           channel URLs : https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/noarch
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/noarch
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/noarch
                          https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/win-64
                          https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/noarch
          package cache : C:\Users\TestConda\Miniconda3\envs\py37\pkgs
                          C:\Users\TestConda\.conda\pkgs
                          C:\Users\TestConda\AppData\Local\conda\conda\pkgs
       envs directories : C:\Users\TestConda\Miniconda3\envs\py37\envs
                          C:\Users\TestConda\.conda\envs
                          C:\Users\TestConda\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs
               platform : win-64
             user-agent : conda/4.7.12 requests/2.22.0 CPython/3.7.5 Windows/10 Windows/10.0.17763
          administrator : False
             netrc file : None
           offline mode : False

Expected Behavior

Installing conda-build should respect the current activated environment.

The conda-build package should be installed in the named environment and not switch to base environment.

Steps to Reproduce

conda create -n py37 python=3.7
conda activate py37
conda install -n py37 -c conda-forge conda-build

Output of conda info

(py37) C:\Users\TestConda>conda info

     active environment : base
    active env location : C:\Users\TestConda\Miniconda3\envs\py37
            shell level : 2
       user config file : C:\Users\TestConda\.condarc
 populated config files : C:\Users\TestConda\Miniconda3\envs\py37\.condarc
          conda version : 4.7.12
    conda-build version : 3.18.11
         python version : 3.7.5.final.0
       virtual packages :
       base environment : C:\Users\TestConda\Miniconda3\envs\py37  (writable)
           channel URLs : https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/noarch
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/noarch
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/win-64
                          https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/noarch
                          https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/win-64
                          https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge/noarch
          package cache : C:\Users\TestConda\Miniconda3\envs\py37\pkgs
                          C:\Users\TestConda\.conda\pkgs
                          C:\Users\TestConda\AppData\Local\conda\conda\pkgs
       envs directories : C:\Users\TestConda\Miniconda3\envs\py37\envs
                          C:\Users\TestConda\.conda\envs
                          C:\Users\TestConda\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs
               platform : win-64
             user-agent : conda/4.7.12 requests/2.22.0 CPython/3.7.5 Windows/10 Windows/10.0.17763
          administrator : False
             netrc file : None
           offline mode : False

Workaround

Stay in base when installing into named environment
while in base environment do the install as below

conda activate base
# stay in base environment but install into py37 environment
conda install -n py37 -c defaults -c conda-forge conda-build

References issue

Conda Issue 9445

[chrisjbillington]

Is it actually conda-build itself that causes the problem, or might it be that conda gets installed to the environment by virtue of being a dependency of conda-build?

[chrisjbillington]

Some clarification on the conda-build project would be good - is conda-build intended to be able to run from a non-base environment?

Since it depends on conda, it installs conda to whatever environment it is run from, which I would have thought is pretty non-kosher, and seems to lead to issues like this.

If conda itself is not supposed to be installed in non-base environemnts, and yet conda-build depends on it, I wonder if an appropriate solution is to split the conda package into e.g. conda and libconda, the former containing the CLI entry points and depending on the latter, which would contain the actual Python libraries used by conda-build.

If indeed conda-build is not supposed to be installed in non-base environments, then it should put (links to) its executables in $CONDABIN (or whatever the directory is where conda's executables are) so that when installed in the base environment, it is still in the $PATH even when you have a different environment active.

[chrisjbillington]

Another option might be for conda-build to vendor the python libraries from conda, rather than have conda as a dependency.

[github-actions]

Hi there, thank you for your contribution!

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed automatically if no further activity occurs.

If you would like this issue to remain open please:

1. Verify that you can still reproduce the issue at hand
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   - What OS and version you reproduced the issue on
   - What steps you followed to reproduce the issue

NOTE: If this issue was closed prematurely, please leave a comment.

Thanks!

[chrisjbillington]

It looks like a developer had added this issue to a list of issues that are to be looked at, perhaps it should reopened?

I believe this is still an issue, I might have a go at reproducing it and will comment confirming.