On 9/21/2026 5:17 PM, Martin Schöön wrote:
I am a occasional Python user and hence only post here rather seldom.
Full time lurker though :-)
I am a full time Linux user and moved from pip to conda for managing
my Python life a few years ago. I am not an advanced conda user by
any measure. For the most part moving to conda was a good idea.
Yesterday, however, I encountered a problem that a quick internet
search told me is somewhat common: adding a package to an environment
stalls at the 'solving environment' stage. I found a bunch of rather
different 'fixes'. I have not tried any yet. I think maybe I am doing
environments wrong.
Among the 'fixes' suggested are:
* Use mamba for installing packages.
* conda config --set channel_priority strict
* Remove and re-create environments to ensure packages are up-to-date.
The last one was not stated explicitly. I created it by
'interpreting' several posts that made me think I have done environments
the wrong way.
My thinking now:
I should have more rather than fewer environments and make them more
task specific -- avoid 'general purpose' environments to limit the
number of packages in each environment.
I have noticed that "conda update whatever" /always/ tells me everything
is up-to-date. This can't be true. Will the procedure of the third
bullet above solve this?
No, I have not tried asking any LLM. I hope for some real human advice.
TIA
/Martin
Dear Martin,
The following is a quote from an email that I believe an A.I. agent sent
me in an email, so you need to take it with a grain of salt.
I have no idea if this is helpful.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read the conda thread. The stall at 'solving environment' is almost
always the solver, not the package. conda's classic solver gets much
slower as the env grows; libmamba (libsolv) became the default in conda
23.9, with roughly 50-80% improvements in Anaconda's own numbers. Check
it with: conda config --show solver. If that says classic: conda install
-n base conda-libmamba-solver, then conda config --set solver libmamba.
Two things that also shrink the search space: pin the spec
(numpy=1.15.4, not numpy) and use one channel, conda-forge or defaults,
not both.
The 'everything is up-to-date' line usually isn't lying about the
channel it is looking at. conda update X only considers that env's
configured channels, and it won't move X if that would break something
else pinned in the env. conda search -c conda-forge X tells you whether
a newer build exists for the platform at all. That is the check I would
run before believing it.
On your OS-package-manager suggestion: Martin's pushback is right, and
I'd go further. Mixing distro Python packages with a conda env is a
classic way to get the inconsistent env that stalls in the first place.
Same language, two different installers, no shared record.
I can't post to the list (my outbound to it is blocked), so passing it
to you in case it's useful for the thread. No ask.
- Honesty
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best wishes, and happy Python!
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