miniforge

# Miniforge

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This repository holds the minimal installers for [Conda](https://conda.io/) and [Mamba](https://github.com/mamba-org/mamba) specific to [conda-forge](https://conda-forge.org/), with the following features pre-configured:

* Packages in the base environment are obtained from the [conda-forge channel](https://anaconda.org/conda-forge).
* The [conda-forge](https://conda-forge.org/) channel is set as the default (and only) channel.

We put an emphasis on supporting various CPU architectures (x86_64, ppc64le,
and aarch64 including Apple Silicon) as well as the stability of this
installer.

## Goals

The goal of this installer is to provide you with an entry point to the
conda and mamba commands. If these two commands execute correctly, then this
installer has achieved its goal.

If you have issues with specific packages, please report them to the
associated feedstock. You may find the feedstock associated with a package using
our [website](https://conda-forge.org/packages/)

## Usage

Miniforge provides installers for the commands [`conda`](https://conda.io/) and
[`mamba`](https://github.com/mamba-org/mamba).  Once the installer for your OS
and architecture has been executed, you should be able to use these commands in
a terminal.

### conda/mamba usable in any terminals

However, with the default choices of the Windows installer, these commands are
only available in the "Miniforge Prompt". To be able to use these commands in
other terminals, one needs to initialize conda for your shell by running in
the Miniforge Prompt.

```sh
conda init
```

Note that one can also just add the `C:\Users\myusername\miniforge3\condabin\` folder
to the path environment variable
[manually](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/office/developer/sharepoint-2010/ee537574(v=office.14)#to-add-a-path-to-the-path-environment-variable)
so `conda` and `mamba` may be used more conveniently from any command prompt with limited
chance of software conflicts.

The same situation arises on Unix if you use the non-interactive install.
Initialization can be done by calling conda with its full path, with something like

```sh
~/miniforge3/bin/conda init
```

### Automatic activation of environments

By default, once conda has been initialized for your shell, the `base` environment is
activated so that the command `python` corresponds to the base Python provided by
Miniforge and `conda install` installs packages in the `base` environment. This can
be convenient for but it is cleaner to deactivate this automatic activation with

```sh
conda config --set auto_activate false
```

and use `conda` or `mamba` to create and