diff --git a/docs/user_guide.rst b/docs/user_guide.rst index bb8ae48f0..3215ed681 100644 --- a/docs/user_guide.rst +++ b/docs/user_guide.rst @@ -205,28 +205,31 @@ system python's pip before activation, once you do the activation this should re Note, though that all we do is change priority; so, if your virtual environments ``bin``/``Scripts`` folder does not contain some executable, this will still resolve to the same executable it would have resolved before the activation. -For a list of shells we provide activators see :option:`activators`. The location of these is right alongside the python -executables ( usually ``Scripts`` folder on Windows, ``bin`` on POSIX), and are named as ``activate`` (and some -extension that's specific per activator; no extension is bash). You can invoke them, usually by source-ing (the source -command might vary by shell - e.g. bash is ``.``): +For a list of shells we provide activators see :option:`activators`. The location of these is right alongside the Python +executables: usually ``Scripts`` folder on Windows, ``bin`` on POSIX. They are called ``activate``, plus an +extension that's specific per activator, with no extension for Bash. You can invoke them, usally by source-ing them. +The source command might vary by shell - e.g. on Bash it’s ``source`` (or ``.``): .. code-block:: console - source bin/activate + source venv/bin/activate -This is all it does; it's purely a convenience of prepending the virtual environment's binary folder onto the ``PATH`` -environment variable. Note you don't have to activate a virtual environment to use it. In this case though you would -need to type out the path to the executables, rather than relying on your shell to resolve them to your virtual -environment. +The activate script prepends the virtual environment’s binary folder onto the ``PATH`` environment variable. It’s +really just convenience for doing so, since you could do the same yourself. -The ``activate`` script will also modify your shell prompt to indicate which environment is currently active. The script -also provisions a ``deactivate`` command that will allow you to undo the operation: +Note that you don't have to activate a virtual environment to use it. You can instead use the full paths to its +executables, rather than relying on your shell to resolve them to your virtual environment. + +Activator scripts also modify your shell prompt to indicate which environment is currently active, by prepending the +environment name in brackets, like ``(venv)``. You can disable this behaviour by setting the environment variable +``VIRTUAL_ENV_DISABLE_PROMPT`` to any value. + +The scripts also provision a ``deactivate`` command that will allow you to undo the operation: .. code-block:: console deactivate - .. note:: If using Powershell, the ``activate`` script is subject to the