Introduction to Conda for (Data) Scientists: Instructor Notes

Conda on HPC systems

Many HPC systems make either Miniconda or Anaconda (or both!) available to users via Environment Modules. In this case a user will need to load the relevant module instead of installing Conda.

$ module load miniconda

Avoid running the conda init command

Using the conda init command is not advisable on HPC systems that use Environment Modules to make Miniconda or Anaconda available to users. The reason is that running the conda init command makes changes to a user’s ~/.bashrc file. If the user subsequently forgets to reverse these changes using conda init --reverse, then conda will still be available even after unloading or purging the miniconda module. This opens the distinct possibility of a user accidently leaving his/her shell environment in an unexpected state.