Why Binary Installation for Linux?

Init-Venv is designed to be installed at the system root level to provide a global command (initvenv) that can be used from anywhere on your system. This is the core philosophy of the tool - having a single, universally accessible command to create Python virtual environments.

On many modern Linux distributions, Python installations are externally-managed (PEP 668), which prevents installing packages globally with pip by default when using the system Python. This creates a logical paradox if you try to install Init-Venv via PyPI:

  • Init-Venv is meant to create virtual environments
  • Installing via pip on modern Linux systems requires you to be inside a virtual environment
  • This defeats the purpose: you’d have a venv manager inside a venv!

Therefore, on Linux, the binary installation is the recommended approach. This allows Init-Venv to exist at the system level and fulfill its intended purpose as a global tool.

Installation Steps

1. Download the Binary

Download the latest Linux binary from one of these sources:

Choose the appropriate architecture for your system:

  • InitVenv-linux-x64 for 64-bit Intel/AMD systems
  • InitVenv-linux-arm64 for ARM64 systems (e.g., Raspberry Pi 4/5)

2. Prepare the Binary

Once downloaded, move the binary to a suitable location:

# Create a directory for local binaries (if it doesn't exist)
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin

# Move the downloaded binary (replace with your architecture: x64 or arm64)
mv ~/Downloads/InitVenv-linux-* ~/.local/bin/initvenv

3. Make it Executable

Give the binary executable permissions:

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/initvenv

To make the initvenv command available system-wide, create a symbolic link in a directory that’s already in your system PATH, such as /usr/local/bin:

sudo ln -s ~/.local/bin/initvenv /usr/local/bin/initvenv

Verify the installation:

which initvenv
# Should output: /usr/local/bin/initvenv

Usage

Once installed, you can use Init-Venv from any directory with a single command:

# Create a venv in the current directory
initvenv .

# Create a venv at a specific path
initvenv /path/to/your/project

# Create a venv at a relative path
initvenv ./my-project

The command will:

  1. Create a Python virtual environment (.venv) in the specified directory
  2. Activate the virtual environment
  3. Install packages from requirements.txt (if present)
  4. Keep the terminal ready for continued work

Important: Make sure your requirements.txt file exists before running initvenv, as dependencies are only installed during the initial setup.