Question: symlinks in versions (e.g., 3.11 --> 3.11.8)

[callegar]

Hi, I am trying to solve a problem with pyenv and it is not clear to me if I am following the best option.

I have many virtual environments. When my linux distro updates python making a minor version jump (e.g., 3.11.7 to 3.11.8) they keep working. However, when there is a major jump (3.11 to 3.12) the virtual environments clearly break. Recreating them immediately for the newer Python is not an option, and they may even contain dependencies not yet made compatible with the latest python.

I am thus thinking of using pyenv to provide the python version the virtualenvs were based upon.

I have tested and seen that changing the symbolic link of python in the virtualenvs bin dir to point to the correct python version in .pyenv/versions is enough to make the virtual environments work fine.

• Question: is this OK or might there be issues following these lines?

What I do not like very much is that the versions in .pyenv/versions are named only through the full version name (e.g. 3.11.6). This means that if I want to then switch to a more recent minor version (e.g. 3.11.8) I need again to go through all my virtual environments to update the symbolic link of python to a path containing the new version name. Now I wonder: is it possible to create symbolic links in the .pyenv/versions directory? For instance having .pyenv/versions/3.11 point to 3.11.6 there? By doing so, in all my virtual environments I can point bin/python to ~/.pyenv/versions/3.11/bin/python and then if I want to switch to a newer python in the 3.11 line, I need to change a single link in ~/.pyenv/versions/.

• Question: is the idea above OK? pyenv seems to be fine with that and it even recognizes and pretty prints the symbolic link when queried with pyenv versions. But I cannot find any documentation about it.

Obviosly I can create the symlink for the partial version name elsewhere, but having it in .pyenv/versions and listed with pyenv versions seems handy.

[native-api]

I have tested and seen that changing the symbolic link of python in the virtualenvs bin dir to point to the correct python version in .pyenv/versions is enough to make the virtual environments work fine.

* Question: is this OK or might there be issues following these lines?

Can't say. You'll have better luck asking the maintainers of the tool that you create environments with (probably virtualenv or venv).

is it possible to create symbolic links in the .pyenv/versions directory?

It is. That's how e.g. unqualified aliases to Pyenv-Virtualenv environments work.