IPython Notebook in Virtualenv (via www.jeffskinnerbox.me)I discovered a problem with using nbconvert for posting IPython Notebooks to my blog. Basically it doesn’t work for my version of IPython, so I looked for an upgrade. I found it but its only delivered bundled with the latest version of IPython. Currently, I’m stuck with using IPython 0.13.2 on my Ubuntu system, at least if I use the distribution provide via Ubuntu. And I can only expect to have problems if I try mixing an older version of IPython with the latest version of nbconvert.
I sure Ubuntu will be getting around to supporting the latest version of IPython (i.e. IPython 1.1.0). in the next few weeks to months, but that doesn’t help me now. I’m hesitant to do a whole sale upgrade of IPython on my system since it my upset other thing I got going on.
The answer to my dilemma will be using the Python Org tool virtualenv (see this for full documentation). This tool will give me a virtual environment that will not disrupt my other projects. Virtualenv is a tool to create isolated Python environments, quite likechroot jail on Unix systems. In a chroot, programs cannot access anything outside of chroot but in virtualenv as the name implies, it creates isolated environments only with respect to libraries, but the programs can still access the files and folders normally. With this, I can support my blog IPython 1.1.0 while also maintaining my other projects which requires IPython 0.13.2……
Jeff's Skinner Box 