Switching from pyenv to uv

Premise

The 0.4.0 release of uv does everything I currently do with pip, pyenv, pipx, pip-tools, and pipdeptree. Because of that, I'm in the process of switching to uv.

This blog post covers switching from pyenv to uv.

History

• 2024-08-29: Initial writing.

• 2024-09-12: Minor updates and publishing.

Start state

I'm running Ubuntu Linux 24.04. I have pyenv installed using the the automatic installer. pyenv is located in $HOME/.pyenv/bin/.

I have the following Pythons installed with pyenv:

$ pyenv versions
  system
  3.7.17
  3.8.19
  3.9.19
* 3.10.14 (set by /home/willkg/mozilla/everett/.python-version)
  3.11.9
  3.12.3

I'm not sure why I have 3.7 still installed. I don't think I use that for anything.

My default version is 3.10.14 for some reason. I'm not sure why I haven't updated that to 3.12, yet.

In my 3.10.14, I have the following Python packages installed:

$ pip freeze
appdirs==1.4.4
argcomplete==3.1.1
attrs==22.2.0
cffi==1.15.1
click==8.1.3
colorama==0.4.6
diskcache==5.4.0
distlib==0.3.8
distro==1.8.0
filelock==3.14.0
glean-parser==6.1.1
glean-sdk==50.1.4
Jinja2==3.1.2
jsonschema==4.17.3
MarkupSafe==2.0.1
MozPhab==1.5.1
packaging==24.0
pathspec==0.11.0
pbr==6.0.0
pipx==1.5.0
platformdirs==4.2.1
pycparser==2.21
pyrsistent==0.19.3
python-hglib==2.6.2
PyYAML==6.0
sentry-sdk==1.16.0
stevedore==5.2.0
tomli==2.0.1
userpath==1.8.0
virtualenv==20.26.2
virtualenv-clone==0.5.7
virtualenvwrapper==6.1.0
yamllint==1.29.0

That probably means I installed the following in the Python 3.10.14 Python environment:

• MozPhab

• pipx

• virtualenvwrapper

Maybe I installed some other things for some reason lost in the sands of time.

Then I had a whole bunch of things installed with pipx.

I have many open source projects all of which have a .python-version file listing the Python versions the project uses.

I think that covers the start state.

Steps

First, I made a list of things I had.

• I listed all the versions of Python I have installed so I know what I need to reinstall with uv.

  $ pyenv versions
  

• I listed all the packages I have installed in my 3.10.14 environment (the default one).

  $ pip freeze
  

• I listed all the packages I installed with pipx.

  $ pipx list
  

I uninstalled all the packages I installed with pipx.

$ pipx uninstall PACKAGE

Then I uninstalled pyenv and everything it uses. I followed the pyenv uninstall instructions:

$ rm -rf $(pyenv root)

Then I removed the bits in my shell that add to the PATH and set up pyenv and virtualenvwrapper.

Then I started a new shell that didn't have all the pyenv and virtualenvwrapper stuff in it.

Then I installed uv using the uv standalone installer.

Then I ran uv --version to make sure it was installed.

Then I installed the shell autocompletion.

$ echo 'eval "$(uv generate-shell-completion bash)"' >> ~/dotfiles/bash.d/20-uv.bash

Then I started a new shell to pick up those changes.

Then I installed Python versions:

$ uv python install 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12
Searching for Python versions matching: Python 3.10
Searching for Python versions matching: Python 3.11
Searching for Python versions matching: Python 3.12
Searching for Python versions matching: Python 3.8
Searching for Python versions matching: Python 3.9
Installed 5 versions in 8.14s
 + cpython-3.8.19-linux-x86_64-gnu
 + cpython-3.9.19-linux-x86_64-gnu
 + cpython-3.10.14-linux-x86_64-gnu
 + cpython-3.11.9-linux-x86_64-gnu
 + cpython-3.12.5-linux-x86_64-gnu

When I type "python", I want it to be a Python managed by uv. Also, I like having "pythonX.Y" symlinks, so I created a uv-sync script which creates symlinks to uv-managed Python versions:

https://github.com/willkg/dotfiles/blob/main/dotfiles/bin/uv-sync

Then I installed all my tools using uv tool install.

$ uv tool install PACKAGE

For tox, I had to install the tox-uv package in the tox environment:

$ uv tool install --with tox-uv tox

Now I've got everything I do mostly working.

So what does that give me?

I installed uv and I can upgrade uv using uv self update.

Python interpreters are managed using uv python. I can create symlinks to interpreters using uv-sync script. Adding new interpreters and removing old ones is pretty straight-forward.

When I type python, it opens up a Python shell with the latest uv-managed Python version. I can type pythonX.Y and get specific shells.

I can use tools written in Python and manage them with uv tool including ones where I want to install them in an "editable" mode.

I can write scripts that require dependencies and it's a lot easier to run them now.

I can create and manage virtual environments with uv venv.

Next steps

Delete all the .python-version files I've got.

Update documentation for my projects and add a uv tool install PACKAGE option to installation instructions.

Probably discover some additional things to add to this doc.

Thanks

Thank you to the Astral crew who wrote uv.

Thank you to Rob Hudson who goaded me into posting this finally rather than sit on it another month.