I know pip
is a package manager for python packages. However, I saw the installation on IPython's website use conda
to install IPython.
Can I use pip
to install IPython? Why should I use conda
as another python package manager when I already have pip
?
What is the difference between pip
and conda
?
Quoting from the Conda blog:
Having been involved in the python world for so long, we are all aware of pip, easy_install, and virtualenv, but these tools did not meet all of our specific requirements. The main problem is that they are focused around Python, neglecting non-Python library dependencies, such as HDF5, MKL, LLVM, etc., which do not have a setup.py in their source code and also do not install files into Python’s site-packages directory.
So Conda is a packaging tool and installer that aims to do more than what pip
does; handle library dependencies outside of the Python packages as well as the Python packages themselves. Conda also creates a virtual environment, like virtualenv
does.
As such, Conda should be compared to Buildout perhaps, another tool that lets you handle both Python and non-Python installation tasks.
Because Conda introduces a new packaging format, you cannot use pip
and Conda interchangeably; pip
cannot install the Conda package format. You can use the two tools side by side (by installing pip
with conda install pip
) but they do not interoperate either.
Since writing this answer, Anaconda has published a new page on Understanding Conda and Pip, which echoes this as well:
This highlights a key difference between conda and pip. Pip installs Python packages whereas conda installs packages which may contain software written in any language. For example, before using pip, a Python interpreter must be installed via a system package manager or by downloading and running an installer. Conda on the other hand can install Python packages as well as the Python interpreter directly.
and further on
Occasionally a package is needed which is not available as a conda package but is available on PyPI and can be installed with pip. In these cases, it makes sense to try to use both conda and pip.