What 's the difference between executing conda-unpack and not when transfering environments through conda-pack

Question

From docs of conda-pack: https://conda.github.io/conda-pack/

Questions about code comments below:

**Q1:**What do "Cleanup prefixes" and "active environment" mean?

**Q2:**What 's the difference between executing conda-unpack and not

# Cleanup prefixes from in the active environment.
# Note that this command can also be run without activating the environment
# as long as some version of python is already installed on the machine.
(my_env) $ conda-unpack

source url: https://conda.github.io/conda-pack/#:~:text=%23%20Cleanup%20prefixes%20from%20in%20the%20active%20environment.%0A%23%20Note%20that%20this%20command%20can%20also%20be%20run%20without%20activating%20the%20environment%0A%23%20as%20long%20as%20some%20version%20of%20python%20is%20already%20installed%20on%20the%20machine.%0A(my_env)%20%24%20conda%2Dunpack

I execute as the docs says all the cmds except for the "conda-unpack", because I'm not aware of the influence on it.

Answer 1

active environment

The active environment refers to the currently activated conda environment. This is what you do when using conda activate, which activates the standard conda environment, or conda activate envnamewith envname being a specific named environment.

When you activate an environment, you are telling your system to use the specific versions of packages and dependencies installed in that environment.

More on that see How to activate an Anaconda environment

cleanup prefixes

Cleanup prefixes refers to the process of removing any hard-coded paths in the environment's files that point to the location of the environment on the source machine. This is necessary when moving a conda environment to a new machine or location.

conda unpack

conda-unpack is a command that should be run after unpacking a conda environment on a new machine or location. It performs the cleanup of prefixes and sets up scripts for activating and deactivating the environment. If you don't run conda-unpack, you may encounter issues with hard-coded paths in the environment's files.