~Unable to initialize cdktf project in pycharm with venv activated

[maciak-g]

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cdktf & Language Versions

0.3.0

Affected Resource(s)

project initialize

Debug Output

https://gist.github.com/maciak-g/2435e8595ca23c33c374c0c774a857ec

Expected Behavior

Project should be initialized

Actual Behavior

Error message that pip cannot perform --user install.

Steps to Reproduce

Install pycharm, create project with pycharm, initialize venv environment in the project.

Important Factoids

I want to initialize project from the level of pycharm not custom initialization tool and install pip packages within initialized python virtual environment. The second case is I want to add this library to existing project where I have already prepared configuration for objects I will provision to cloud. I am puzzled why there are no alternative instructions to setup project manually or some more options to direct how packages should be installed.

References

• #0000

[jsteinich]

There may be a conflict between pip and your virtualenv. There are 2 separate templates, perhaps trying the python one would work better with your setup.

When it comes to manual setup, there's really only a couple steps.

1. Create a cdktf.json file
2. Install the cdktf package
3. Optionally install prebuilt providers

[maciak-g]

But could you check this hardcoded --user parameter in python-pip template ? For example as I have found on stackoverflow it is not needed when using venv, so forcing it doesn't have sense:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30604952/pip-default-behavior-conflicts-with-virtualenv

[jsteinich]

I think right now the python-pip template is assuming you aren't using a virtual environment while the python template creates one for you.

@cmclaughlin Do you have any thoughts on if it makes sense for the pip version to better support virtual environments?

[tl24]

I ran into this as well. I couldn't make sense from the docs whether --user is the default or not, but you could detect whether you're in a virtual environment by checking to see if the VIRTUAL_ENV environment variable is set and not specify the --user flag if you are.

[jsteinich]

@tl24 that sounds like a reasonable solution. Would you be interested in creating a PR that does just that?

[tl24]

Sure I can do that

[tl24]

FYI I ran into an issue trying to test. There is a check in packages/cdktf-cli/bin/cmds/helper/init.ts that won't let you run with version 0.0.0. I'm not sure how one is supposed to test locally with that check. I had to comment it out temporarily.

[ansgarm]

I'm not sure how one is supposed to test locally with that check

You can build the cdktf package and specify it via --dist or CDKTF_DIST. I usually use the former with the init command. It is mentioned here, but please file an issue if something was left unclear and we can improve the docs there 👀