How to escape Python dependency hell with the ActiveState Platform
The ActiveState Platform is a universal package and environment management tool for Python that prioritizes security. It will try to automatically resolve dependency conflicts using our solver function based on the PubGrub algorithm. It comes with its own Python ecosystem and offers an alternative to traditional Python dependency management tools.
This video shows how the Platform flags and offers manual solutions to dependency conflicts, eliminating dependency hell. You use the Web GUI to configure a Python environment in the cloud. The GUI provides you with clear visuals and creates a central source of truth for your environment that you can easily share with your team via a single command.
Alternatively, you can use the command line interface, the State Tool, to install and manage custom Python environments that feature dependencies (as well as any linked C/Fortran libraries) built on demand from source code.
As a result, there’s no need to no need to set up and manage complex build environments locally.
Whether you use the GUI or the CLI, ActiveState also provides a security audit of package dependencies, including transitive dependencies, to prevent you from introducing security vulnerabilities further down the chain.
Note: Dependency resolution and creating secure, reproducible environments are functions available to all users of the ActiveState Platform, including free tier users.b Just start by creating your account using your email or GitHub signup. As you work with the ActiveState Platform to resolve your dependencies and create new Python environments, you might run into the need of upgrading to higher versions or features available to paid tier users, please get in touch with us to help you find the best tier for your needs.
Watch Next: What to do when you encounter a solver error
At ActiveState, we use the Platform to build not only our popular open source language distributions, but also custom runtimes for our enterprise clients (i.e. builds containing just the language and packages their project requires). Try it out yourself or get a personalized demo and understand how it can support your enterprise’s open source needs.
To read the blog based on this video ‘How to automatically eliminate dependency hell’, head here.
Use our Platform to build a custom environment for your next project, including just the language and packages your project needs.
- Choose a language (Python, Perl or Tcl right now)
- Select your operating system (Linux or Windows, plus Mac for Python)
- Add the packages your project requires
ActiveState regularly pulls packages from each language’s standard open source repository (CPAN, PyPI, etc) to ensure that your open source language and components are up to date, can be compiled from source, and are then verified to work together in a distribution that is packaged for most major operating systems. Go ahead and try our beta today! We are hanging out at our Community Forum to provide support as you explore.
