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by chipotle_coyote 1383 days ago
I feel like I'm maybe missing some context here, because I've never had to install "conda Python" on any Mac ever. I had the system Python and a Homebrew-installed Python happily co-existing, and at various points have had "virtualized" Pythons installed via virtualenv or pipx. On Apple Silicon Macs there's no Python installed by default at all.

Now, I've seen an awful lot of programs written in Python that decide to force you to install them with virtualenv or pipx, but that's not Apple's doing.
3 comments
aivoyeur 1383 days ago
> On Apple Silicon Macs there's no Python installed by default at all.

Not true. There's no python2 anymore, but there is a python3. You can find it at /usr/bin/python3 (most likely your homebrew install preceeds it in your PATH)

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jamesfmilne 1383 days ago
Which doesn't work, unless you have Xcode or the Command Line Tools installed.
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entropi 1383 days ago
In my experience, quite a few libraries only worked when pulled from conda, due to the whole M1-compatible compilation thing. So while Apple does not force you to install conda, in practice you kind of are forced.

This is/has been changing slowly, though. Things are much better then they were a year ago.

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anothernewdude 1383 days ago
You do if you want Apple's metal support for tensorflow.
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