Taming Python Installation with Pyenv for AI/ML and MLOps Projects

Médéric Hurier (Fmind)
4 min readOct 8, 2024

Python is the beloved language of data scientists, machine learning engineers, and anyone dabbling in the fascinating world of AI. But with its ever-evolving landscape of versions and dependencies, managing your Python environment can quickly turn into a chaotic nightmare. Fear not, fellow data wizards! This blog post introduces you to pyenv, your secret weapon for taming the Python beast and ensuring a smooth, reproducible, and headache-free development experience.

https://m.xkcd.com/1987/

The Python Version Problem

AI/ML practitioners are juggling between multiple projects. One requires Python 3.9 for compatibility with a crucial library, while another demands the shiny new features of Python 3.13. Switching between these versions manually can be a recipe for disaster, leading to broken dependencies and frustrating debugging sessions. System-wide Python installations become a minefield, and virtual environments, while helpful, can still be cumbersome to manage across multiple projects.

Enter Pyenv: The Python Version Manager

pyenv is a lightweight command-line tool that allows you to effortlessly install and switch between multiple Python versions on your system. It acts as a gatekeeper, intercepting Python commands and directing them…

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Médéric Hurier (Fmind)

Freelancer: AI/ML/MLOps Engineer | Data Scientist | Python Developer | MLOps Community Organizer | MLOps Coding Course Author | MLflow Ambassador | Hacker | PhD