How to replicate / export a virtualenv from a machine to another ?

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If you code in Python, you probably use virtualenv to maintain a clean setup and avoid problems with different versions of pythons. But sometimes, you need to replicate / export a virtualenv from a machine to another. This post will explain you exactly how to do this.

First, use the following commands on the origin machine:

source ./bin/activate
pip freeze > requirements.txt

Then, copy your source code files from the virtualenv folder (called virtualenv_1) on the target machine. Do NOT copy the virtualenv files in folders such as bin, lib etc. We will eventually create these files with virtualenv on the new system:

sudo apt-get install python-virtualenv

sudo  virtualenv virtualenv_1

Then install all the required packages:

cd virtualenv_1
source bin/activate
sudo pip install -r requirements.txt

That's it! If you have liked this article, please put a link to it on your Google+  / facebook profile are any other kind of web site: it will help others find it in the search engines. Thanks!