With one command, have a working Python virtualenv + virtualenvwrapper environment.

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brainsik/virtualenv-burrito/master/virtualenv-burrito.sh | $SHELL

If you're behind a proxy, make sure your shell has the proper http_proxy and https_proxy variables set.

If you're using a Linux desktop terminal, you may need to configure it to use a "login shell". For gnome-terminal this can be done by running:

gconftool-2 -t bool -s /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/login_shell true

See the virtualenvwrapper quickstart or read the virtualenvwrapper command reference.

To create a new virtualenv:

mkvirtualenv newname

Once activated, pip install <package> (without using sudo) whichever Python packages you want. They'll only be available in that virtualenv. You can make as many virtualenvs as you want.

To switch between virtualenvs:

workon othername

To upgrade to the latest virtualenv + virtualenvwrapper packages:

virtualenv-burrito upgrade

To get Python coders coding.

Virtualenv Burrito was inspired by Pycon sprinters who wasted time getting virtualenv setup so they could start hacking on code. It's sadly complicated to quickly setup the wonderful virtualenv + virtualenvwrapper environment. Depending on your system you may end up yak shaving with setuptools, distribute, virtualenv, virtulenvwrapper, .bashrc, PyPI, apt-get/MacPorts, and more.

A second feature is the ability to upgrade to newer versions of virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper with a single command.

Both virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper let you specify which Python interpreter the virtualenv should use via the -p switch. For example:

mkvirtualenv -p /path/to/some/python coolname

This creates a virtualenv called “coolname” which uses /path/to/some/python as its interpreter. I've tested this with PyPy and it worked great.

The real hard work is done by the creators of Virtualenv and Virtualenvwrapper. Virtualenv is maintained by Ian Bicking. Virtualenvwrapper is maintained by Doug Hellman.

If you have a sophisticated shell environment or customized install scripts, you may want to prevent the install script (virtualenv-burrito.sh) from modifying your dot profile. To do this, either use the --exclude-profile option or set the environment variable exclude_profile to a non-empty value:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brainsik/virtualenv-burrito/master/virtualenv-burrito.sh | exclude_profile=1 $SHELL

This simple script is meant for people who do not have virtualenv installed.