README.md

mamba

Mamba is a reimplementation and drop-in replacement for Conda package manager in C++.

1. Parallel downloading of repository data and packages using multi-threading.
2. Utilizes libsolv for faster dependency solving, a library also used by RPM package managers like Red Hat, Fedora, and OpenSUSE.
3. Core components are implemented in C++ for maximum efficiency.

Mamba maintains compatibility with Conda by using the same command line parser, package installation and removal code, and transaction verification routines.

How to install it?

Similar to Conda, there are two versions of Mamba,

• mamba
• msicromamba

micromamba is a tiny version of the mamba package manager. It is a statically linked C++ executable with a separate command line interface. Please refer to the official documentation for installation - https://mamba.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation/mamba-installation.html

To start with lightweight package manager, I installed micromamba on my Ubuntu 22.04.

Run the following command to install micromamba,

"${SHELL}" <(curl -L micro.mamba.pm/install.sh)

The installation is an interactive process and asking you to provide preferred options. And, it updated my .zshrc (I am using .zshrc) with the following configuration.

# >>> mamba initialize >>>
# !! Contents within this block are managed by 'mamba init' !!
export MAMBA_EXE='~/.local/bin/micromamba';
export MAMBA_ROOT_PREFIX='~/.micromamba';
__mamba_setup="$("$MAMBA_EXE" shell hook --shell zsh --root-prefix "$MAMBA_ROOT_PREFIX" 2> /dev/null)"
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    eval "$__mamba_setup"
else
    alias micromamba="$MAMBA_EXE"  # Fallback on help from mamba activate
fi
unset __mamba_setup
# <<< mamba initialize <<<

Verify the installation,

$ micromamba --version

Create an alias to short the command,

$ alias mamba=micromamba

How to use it?

1. Create a virtual environment

It's nearly same as the usage of conda.

$ mamba create --name envname python=3.12

Or, create virtual environment from environment.yml or requirements.txt file,

$ mamba env create -n envname

$ mamba env create -f /path/to/environment.yml

$ mamba env create -f /path/to/requirements.txt -n envname

$ mamba env create -f /path/to/requirements.txt -p /home/user/envname

2. Activate the virtual environment

List the virtual environments on your machine,

$ mamba env list

Then choose your virtual environment to activate by this command,

$ mamba activate envname

3. Manage Python packages

Then you can install Python packages in the activated environment,

To install a signle Python package,

$ mamba install <package-name>

To install all Python packages from requirements.txt file,

$ mamba install --file requirements.txt

To update specified environment according to environment.yml file,

$ mamba env update --file environment.yml --prune

To update other environment, you could specify environment name,

$ mamba env update --name envname --file environment.yml --prune

To export all Python packages in the environment, run this command:

$ mamba env export -f environment.yml

However, Mamba does not have a --export option with mamba list as Conda for requirements.txt export.

4. Deactivate the virtual environment

To deactivate the current environment, run this command:

$ mamba deactivate

5. Remove the virtual environment

To remove the specified environment, run this command:

$ mamba env remove --name envname

Different Python versions?

It is recommended to create the virtual environment with Python version specified,

$ mamba create --name envname python=3.12

$ mamba create --name envname python=3.11

$ mamba create --name envname python=3.10

Happy Coding!