Setup python on Linux in Windows using WSL and VS Code

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Skill - Setup python on Linux in Windows using WSL and VS Code

Table of Contents

In this post we will learn

  • Setup python, pip and venv in Ubuntu inside WSL
  • Setup multiple python versions using deadsnakes ppa
  • Run python and install packages in WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)
  • Setup virtual environments for python projects in WSL Ubuntu
  • Visual Studio Code (VS Code) support for WSL
  • update-alternatives command for aliasing python version with python command

What is WSL

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) is a windows feature that can run Linux environments like Ubuntu inside windows OS without installing separate virtual machines or dual booting. A detailed post on setting up WSL in windows can be found here

Setup python, pip and venv in Ubuntu

Setting up python

  • Python comes pre-installed in Ubuntu. It is accessible as python3
  • Check if python is installed using python3 --version
  • Check the installation location of python using which python
  • Update all the packages using sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
  • Update only python3 using sudo apt upgrade python3

Setting up pip

  • pip is useful for managing external packages in python
  • Install pip using sudo apt install python3-pip

Setting up venv for virtual environments

  • venv is useful for managing virtual environments in python
  • Install venv using sudo apt install python3-venv

Setup multiple python versions using deadsnakes ppa

  • deadsnakes ppa contains multiple versions of python that can be installed and used in Ubuntu
  • Add deadsnakes ppa repository using sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
  • Now multiple python versions can be installed. For example python 3.7 and python 3.9 can be installed using the following commands
# install python 3.7
sudo apt install python3.7
sudo apt install python3.7-distutils
# install python 3.9
sudo apt install python3.9
sudo apt install python3.9-distutils
  • After installation, multiple python versions can be used. For example python3.9 --version command will use python 3.9 and python3.7 --version will use python 3.7

Run python and install packages in WSL

  • Suppose there is a python script named hello.py
  • It can be run with python installed in WSL using the command wsl python3 hello.py
  • To run with another version of python, say python 3.7, we can use the command wsl python3.7 hello.py
  • External packages can be installed using pip. For example python3 -m pip install flask will install the flask python module.
  • External packages can be installed in other python environments also using pip. For example python3.9 -m pip install flask will install flask in python 3.9 environment.

Run flask server in WSL

  • For example, a server in server.py file can be run using the command wsl python3 server.py
  • The server page can be accessed in windows browser without opening WSL

Setup virtual environment for a python project in WSL

  • Open the folder containing python file in command line and execute wsl to create a wsl session
  • Create a virtual environment using python3 -m venv app_env . A folder name “app_env” should be created
  • The virtual environment can be activated using the command source ./app_env/bin/activate
  • The installed packages can be checked using the command python3 -m pip list

VS Code support for WSL

  • Visual Studio Code supports easy interface for running python from WSL with WSL VS Code extension
  • After installing WSL, open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P shortcut and type WSL. Select “WSL: Open Folder in WSL”.
  • Now a folder in VS Code will be opened from an installed WSL distribution
  • Python extension should again be installed in VS Code for WSL to enable VS Code python support for folders opened in WSL
  • Python version and virtual environment can be selected easily using the options present in the status bar at the bottom of VS Code editor

update-alternatives command for aliasing python version with python command

  • update-alternatives command in Ubuntu can be used to create alias for a desired python version
  • For example the following command will create an alias python for python3.9
update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3.9 1
  • The alias can be removed if required using the following command. The alias can be changed to another python after this if required.
update-alternatives --remove-all python

Video

The video for this post can be found here

References

Table of Contents

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