[franey]

This is a good point about complexity. I started with pip + virtualenv, and I'd recommend pip + venv to anyone learning Python. venv is in the standard library, so there's official documentation for it.

I picked up Pipenv when a point-point release of a dependency broke a production deployment. Pipenv's dependency locking meant that I wouldn't get surprised like that again.

Part of why this topic comes up so much is the desire to run with a language before learning to walk with it, perhaps. I'm a big fan of Poetry, but I like it because I know what it gives me compared to vanilla pip and a setup.py file.

Installing dependencies at the OS level will get you far as a beginner. And when the time comes that you need a virtual environment, you'll probably know.