[mkobit]

Not OP, but we would like to move away from it as well.

- Breaking behavior between minor versions (https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/7290)

- Environments not actually being isolated (https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/448)

- Can't create environments in long paths (https://github.com/conda/constructor/issues/156)

Those are just a few I can remember. We unfortunately have not found a strong replacement.

[kalefranz]

> Breaking behavior between minor versions

See https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/7248 for where conda intends to head in the future on the environment.yml issue.

> Environments not actually being isolated

That's actually a really sticky issue, and one that's more about the python interpreter itself rather than anything conda is doing. More recent discussion at https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/7173. Yes, we can change the default behavior of the python interpreter. Either way though, we'll be making a group of people mad.

> Can't create environments in long paths

Of course you can. `conda create` works well with long paths on unix systems (Windows is more difficult, but we're working on that too). What you're bumping into in that issue is that the constructor installer builder isn't (right now) compatible with longer paths. The solution really is to get conda bootstrapped onto your system, and then just use that one conda. You don't need full miniconda installations scattered all over the place. One easy way to do it is bootstrap conda into `/opt/conda` and then symlink `/opt/conda/bin/conda` to `/usr/local/bin/conda`. Now `conda create` whatever and wherever you want.

> We unfortunately have not found a strong replacement.

Conda definitely isn't perfect, and it's far from a "done" project. One thing we do have at this point is years of battle-hardening with something like six million active users blanketing all sorts of operating environments. With conda-forge being as strong as it is today, I'm not sure anything else like it really exists. Nix and pkgsrc are probably the closest alternatives.

[sandGorgon]

Quick question - has there been an attempt to make conda and official PEP and make conda-forge part of the Python Foundation (instead of a private company).

I'm trying to figure out why is all this new manylinux PEP stuff "inspired by conda" and is not actually conda.

Is this a situation like grsecurity vs Torvalds? How does the situation change now that BDFL is gone ?

[mkobit]

Thanks for the reply. I wrote that post earlier this morning after some other frustration, so I'm sorry for the negative tone.

Despite some of our issues with it, Conda has worked well for us both as a development team and in production for quite some time.

> six million active users

That's awesome to hear, and one of the reasons we haven't seriously invested in a replacement.